Navigation device, navigation method, route data generation program, recording medium containing route data generation program, and server device in navigation system

ABSTRACT

To provide with a navigation apparatus capable of efficient route guidance in which a date on which route guidance process is performed coincides with an available date and time, and in consideration with a stay length. The navigation apparatus in this implementation is provided with a GPS reception section, a sensor section, a map data storage section in which data such as map data is recorded in advance, and a system control section which generates design data and performs process management on the basis of the generated design data. The system control section searches routes on the basis of spot data groups related to an extracted destination, generates route data on the basis of the search results, the spot data and an input departure time, and manages route guidance on the basis of the generated route data.

1. TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the technical field of navigationapparatuses for performing route guidance for mobile units.

2. RELATED ART

In recent years, navigation apparatuses have been generally put to wideuse as an apparatus for guiding the movement of mobile units such asvehicles by displaying a map on a display such as a liquid crystaldisplay panel mounted on the mobile unit. Such navigation apparatusesare capable of setting a plurality of destinations and performing aroute search and route guidance in an order selected by a user or inincreasing order of linear distance from the present position to a finaldestination.

Also recent navigation apparatuses are capable of storing and holdingroute data which is set before travel and making a check of a travelroute on the basis of the stored data at the time of vehicle travel orrecording and holding a travel record and referring to the travel recordat the time of the next travel on the same route (see, for example,Japanese Patent No. 3019793).

In the above-described navigation apparatuses, computation of expectedarrival times at destinations and a final destination and computation ofthe distance between two points on the present location and one of thedestinations, or a route search between two points on the presentlocation and one of the destinations, is performed. In theabove-described navigation apparatuses, however, management of dates andhours, e.g., the data of departure, the date of arrival and the periodof a stay at a destination is not performed. Therefore, a day or hour inwhich route guidance is performed may be different from any of availabledays and hours including a day and hour recommended for visit to adestination and a non-visitable day/hour. Even if a visit is made to thedestination by traveling along a route set by the navigation apparatus,the arrival time is out of open hours of a facility at the destinationor out of the season suitable for visit to the destination.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been achieved in consideration of theabove-described problem, and an object of the present invention is toprovide, for example, a navigation apparatus capable of ensuring that aday and hour in which route guidance is performed coincides with one ofavailable days and hours, and capable of reliably performing routeguidance to each of destinations by considering the length of a stay.

The above object of the present invention can be achieved by anavigation apparatus provided with: a departure point data acquisitiondevice which obtains departure point data including at least locationdata of a departure point from which a mobile unit departs; aregistration device which registers a destination to be reached by themobile unit; a spot data acquisition device which obtains spot data onthe registered destination including at least location data indicatingthe location of the destination, stay length information representinginformation on an expected stay length at the destination and availabletime information indicating available dates and times of thedestination; a storage device which stores map data; a generation devicewhich generates route data from the departure point to the destinationincluding at least an expected arrival time at the destination on thebasis of the obtained departure point data, the spot data on theregistered destination and the map data; and a route guidance devicewhich performs route guidance from the departure point to thedestination on the basis of the generated route data.

The above object of the present invention can be achieved by anavigation method provided with: a departure point data acquisitionprocess which obtains departure point data including at least locationdata of a departure point from which a mobile unit departs; aregistration process which registers a destination to be reached by themobile unit; a spot data acquisition process which obtains spot data onthe registered destination including at least location data indicatingthe location of the destination, stay length information representinginformation on an expected stay length at the destination and availabletime information indicating available dates and times of thedestination; a map data acquisition process which obtains map datastored in a storage device; a generation process which generates routedata from the departure point to the destination including at least anexpected arrival time at the destination on the basis of the obtaineddeparture point data, the spot data on the registered destination andthe map data; and a route guidance process which performs route guidancefrom the departure point to the destination on the basis of thegenerated route data.

The above object of the present invention can be achieved by a routedata generation program for generating route data relating to routeguidance of a mobile unit by a computer. The route data generationprogram makes the computer function as: a departure point dataacquisition device which obtains departure point data including at leastlocation data of a departure point from which a mobile unit departs; aregistration device which registers a destination to be reached by themobile unit; a spot data acquisition device which obtains spot data onthe registered destination including at least location data indicatingthe location of the destination, stay length information representinginformation on an expected stay length at the destination and availabletime information indicating available dates and times of thedestination; a map data acquisition device which obtains map data storedin a storage device; a generation device which generates route data fromthe departure point to the destination including at least an expectedarrival time at the destination on the basis of the obtained departurepoint data, the spot data on the registered destination and the mapdata; and a route guidance device which performs route guidance from thedeparture point to the destination on the basis of the generated routedata.

The above object of the present invention can be achieved by a serverapparatus in a navigation system, the server apparatus provided with: areception device which receives departure point data including at leastlocation data of a departure point of a mobile unit registered by aterminal device departs, and a destination which is to be reached by themobile unit; a spot data acquisition device which obtains spot data onthe registered destination including at least location data indicatingthe location of the destination, stay length information representinginformation on an expected stay length at the destination and availabletime information indicating available dates and times of thedestination; a storage device which stores map data; a generation devicewhich generates route data from the departure point to the destinationincluding at least an expected arrival time at the destination on thebasis of the obtained departure point data, the spot data on theregistered destination and the map data; and a route guidance controldevice which controls route guidance in the terminal device from thedeparture point to the destination on the basis of the generated routedata.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of anavigation apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of spot datastored in a map data storage section in a first embodiment according tothe present invention;

FIG. 3A to 3C are diagrams showing an example (I) of on-screen imagesdisplayed on a display section in the first embodiment;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams showing an example (II) of on-screen imagesdisplayed on the display section in the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a system controlsection in the first embodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a sequence of operations (I) in settingstart processing in the first embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a sequence of operations (II) in settingstart processing in the first embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing operations in generation processing in thefirst embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing operations in priority processing in thefirst embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing operations in process managementprocessing in the first embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing operations in early arrival processing inprocess management processing in the first embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing operations in weather acquisitionprocessing in a second embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing operations in weather managementprocessing in the second embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing operations in rest notificationprocessing in a third embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining setting of prior placed spot dataand posteriorly placed spot data in a fourth embodiment;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart (I) showing operations in generation processingin the fourth embodiment;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart (II) showing operations in generation processingin the fourth embodiment; and

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing operations in processing on posteriorlyplaced spot data in the fourth embodiment.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Embodiments described below correspond to cases of application of thenavigation apparatus according to the present invention to vehiclenavigation apparatuses.

First Embodiment

A first embodiment of the navigation apparatus according to the presentinvention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 11.

Description will first be made of the overall configuration and theoutline of the operation of the navigation apparatus in this embodimentwith reference to FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of thenavigation apparatus according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the navigation apparatus 100 in this embodiment isconstituted by a GPS reception section 101 which is connected to anantenna AT not shown in the figure, and which receives GPS (GlobalPositioning System) data, a sensor section 102 which detects travel dataincluding the travel speed of a vehicle, an interface 103 which computesthe position of the vehicle on the basis of GPS data and travel data, aVICS data reception section 104 which receives VICS (Vehicle InformationCommunication System) data, a map data storage section 105 in whichvarious sorts of data including map data and spot data described beloware recorded in advance, an operating section 106 which is used when auser makes a setting and when the user inputs an instruction to thesystem, a microphone 107 which collects speech sound from the user, aspeech recognition circuit 108 which recognizes an instruction providedto the system from the sound collected by the microphone 107, a displaysection 109 which displays map data and the position of the vehicle, adisplay control section 111 which controls the display 109 by using abuffer memory 110, a speech processing circuit 112 which generatesspeeches including a route guidance speech, a speaker 113 which radiatesa speech signal output from the speech processing circuit 112, acommunication section 114 which performs communication via a publictelephone network circuit or an Internet circuit and the antenna AT, asystem control section 115 which generates a route search process and aroute guidance process, performs process management in route guidance,and performs control for route guidance by controlling the entiresystem, and a ROM/RAM 116. The system control section 115 is connectedto each of the other sections by a bus 117.

For example, the GPS reception section 101 and the sensor section 102 inthis embodiment constitute the present position data acquisition devicein accordance with the present invention, and the map data storagesection 105 in this embodiment constitutes the storage device inaccordance with the present invention.

Also, for example, the operating section 106 and the speech recognitioncircuit 108 in this embodiment constitute a registration device, aselection device, a time setting device and a regeneration selectiondevice in accordance with the present invention, and the display section109 and the speech processing circuit 112 in this embodiment constitutea notification device, a resetting notification device and a propositiondevice in accordance with the present invention.

Further, for example, the system control section 115 in this embodimentconstitutes the route guidance device in accordance with the presentinvention.

The GPS reception section 101 receives navigation radio waves from aplurality of artificial satellites belonging to the GPS through theantenna AT, computes pseudo coordinate values of the present position ofthe mobile unit on the basis of the received radio waves, and outputsthe computed values as GPS data to the interface 103.

The sensor section 102 detects travel data including the vehicle travelspeed, acceleration and azimuth, and outputs the detected travel data tothe interface 103.

More specifically, the sensor section 102 detects the travel speed ofthe vehicle, converts the detected speed into speed data in a pulse orvoltage form, and outputs the speed data to the interface 103.

Also, the sensor section 102 detects the state of movement of thevehicle in a vertical direction by comparing the gravitationalacceleration and the acceleration caused by a movement of the vehicle,converts acceleration data representing the detected state of movementinto data in a pulse or voltage form, and outputs the converted data tothe interface 103.

Further, the sensor section 102 is constituted by a so-calledgyrosensor, detects the azimuth of the vehicle, i.e., the direction inwhich the vehicle travels, converts the detected azimuth into azimuthdata in a pulse or voltage form, and outputs the azimuth data to theinterface 103.

The interface 103 performs interfacing between the sensor section 102and the system control section 115 and between the GPS reception section101 and the system control section 105. The interface 103 computes theposition of the vehicle on the basis of input GPS data and travel data,and outputs the vehicle position as vehicle position data to the systemcontrol section 115.

This vehicle position data is collated with map data in the systemcontrol section 115 to execute map matching processing or the like.

The VICS data reception section 104 obtains VICS data by receivingelectric waves of FM multiplexed broadcast or the like, and outputs theobtained VICS data to the system control section 115.

VICS denotes a road traffic information communication system and theVICS data refers to road traffic information including information ontraffic jams, accidents and regulations.

The map data storage section 105 is constituted by a hard disc forexample. The map data storage section 105 reads out map data such as aroad map recorded in advance, spot data about destinations to beregistered, described below, other sorts of information necessary fortravel guidance (hereinafter referred to as “map data, etc.”) andoutputs the read map data, etc., to the system control section 115.

As the map data, etc., map data including road configuration datanecessary for navigation operations are stored and names of destinationssuch as parks and stores and various related data such as location dataare also stored by being associated with the map configuration data.Also, the entire map is divided into a plurality of blocks in a meshform, and map data corresponding to each block is managed as a block mapdata.

More specifically, in the map data storage section 105, spot datarepresenting destinations such as stores, amusement facilities, notedsightseeing spots and art galleries is stored together with name datasuch as names of the facilities or names of places where the facilitiesare located.

The spot data stored in the map data storage section 105 in thisembodiment will be described below in detail.

The operating section 106 is constituted by a remote control device orthe like including a number of keys such as various check buttons,selection buttons and numeric keys. In particular, the operating section106 is used to input instructions from the driver, e.g., an instructionto display vehicle travel information and an instruction to change adisplay on the display section 109.

In particular, the operating section 106 is capable of performing eachoperation by being linked to the display section 109 when a destinationis registered in the system control section 115 in a route guidanceprocess described below, or when process management on the process isperformed during route guidance on the basis of the registereddestination.

The operating section 106 is also capable of setting information on eachof groups of spot data item stored in the map data storage section andsetting stay length information and genre information described below.

To the speech recognition circuit 108, a speech or the like uttered bythe user and input to the microphone 107 is input. For example, thespeech recognition circuit 108 analyzes an uttered speech input as acommand to operate the navigation apparatus 100 and outputs an analysisresult to the system control section 115.

The display section 109 is constituted by a CRT or a liquid crystaldisplay device for example. The display section 109 displays map data,etc., in various forms under the control of the display control section111, and displays various conditions necessary for route guidance,including the vehicle position, by superimposing them on the map data,etc.

The display section 109 also displays contents information or the likeother than map data, etc., and, at the time of generation of a routeguidance process described below, a menu frame for a route guidanceprocess, a destination search method selection frame, a list ofdestinations stored in the map data storage section 105, and a resultframe showing results of the generated route guidance process. Thedisplay section 109 displays each frame under display control accordingto an instruction from the system control section 115.

The frames displayed on the display section 109 in this embodiment willbe described below in detail.

Map data, etc., input through the system control section 115 is input tothe display control section 111. The display control section 111generates display data to be displayed on the display section 109, suchas described above, according to instructions from the system controlsection 115, temporarily stores the display data in the buffer memory110, reads out the display data from the buffer memory 110 at apredetermined time, and outputs the display data to the display section109.

The speech processing circuit 112 generates a speech signal according toan instruction from the system control section 115 and radiates thegenerated speech signal through the speaker 113. For example, the speechprocessing circuit 112 outputs, as a speech signal to the speaker 113,information about route guidance including the direction of travel ofthe vehicle at the next intersection, jam information to be notifieddirectly to the driver in travel guidance, traffic suspensioninformation, or the like.

At the time of generation of design data described below or routeguidance based on selected route data described below in particular, thespeech processing circuit 112 outputs information on the generation orroute guidance as a speech signal to the speaker 113.

The communication section 114 is connected to the public telephonenetwork circuit and the Internet circuit through the antenna AT. Inparticular, in this embodiment, a desired server apparatus is connectedto the circuit to obtain weather forecast information when a routeguidance process described below is generated.

Processing for obtaining weather forecast information in thecommunication section 114 in this embodiment will be described below indetail.

The system control section 115 includes various input/output portsincluding a GPS reception port, a key input port and a display controlport, and performs overall control of general functions for navigationprocessing.

The system control section 115 controls the overall operation of thenavigation apparatus 100, executes each kind of processing by readingout a control program stored in the ROM/RAM 116, and performs controlfor route guidance while temporarily storing in the ROM/RAM 116 datawhich is being processed.

For example, the system control section 115 makes a search for a routefrom the present location to an input destination and performs routeguidance on the route thereby found. When the system control section 115performs route guidance on a route found by a search, it performscorrection processing such as map matching based on vehicle positiondata output from the interface 103 and map data, controls the displaysection 109 so that route guide information is displayed on a mapshowing a peripheral region including the present position of thevehicle, and makes the speech processing circuit 112 output the travelroute guidance information or the like as a speech.

Also, the system control section 115 registers a plurality ofdestinations according to an instruction from the user, and generates aroute guidance process based on the registered destinations and presentsthe generated process to the user before performing route guidance. Ifthe user chooses performing route guidance on the basis of data on thegenerated route guidance process (hereinafter referred to simply as“design data”), the system control section 115 performs processmanagement on route guidance while performing route guidance on thebasis of the selected design data (hereinafter referred to as “selectedroute data”).

Generation of design data and route guidance management based on thedesign data in the system control section 115 in this embodiment will bedescribed below in detail.

Description will next be made of spot data stored in the map datastorage section 105 in this embodiment with reference to FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of spot data stored in themap data storage section 105 in this embodiment.

In the map data storage section 105 are stored map data and data otherthan the map data, e.g., spot data representing places to be selected asdestinations, including restaurants, stores such as department stores,ball game grounds, parks or amusement parks, noted sightseeing spots,and art galleries or museums, as described above. For example, suchsorts of information are stored together with names of facilities andnames of places where the facilities are located are as shown in FIG. 2.

For example, in this embodiment, spot data includes position informationindicating the latitudes and longitudes of such spots, genre informationindicating categories for places to visit, such as places to have meals,places to visit for study or observation, and amusement facilities, towhich the spots belong, available time information indicating times suchas service times and open times during which the facilities at thedestinations are available, recommended visit time informationindicating recommended days and hours in which a visit should be made,e.g., a time period during which a night view is beautiful and a periodwhich is the set time to see cherry blossoms, and stay lengthinformation indicating an expected length of time for stay at each spot.This spot data is stored in a state of being associated with thecorresponding positions on the map and the names of the destinations.

More specifically, genre information indicates genres for, for example,places to have meals, stores other than the places to have meals, playspots, places to visit for study or observation and sightseeing places.When design data on a route guidance process is generated and when thegenerated design data is presented, the genre information is referred toby the system control section 115 and is displayed on the displaysection 109.

Also, genre information is used for determination of a stay lengthexpected with respect to a registered destination at the time ofgeneration of design data as described below, if the spot data on theregistered destination includes no stay length information. In thisembodiment, typically a value for a stay length is set in advance asstay length information in each group of spot data by the user. However,if no expected stay length is set in this manner in the spot data, anexpected stay length determined in advance with respect to each genre,for example, one hour as an expected length of stay at a place to have ameal, thirty minutes at a sightseeing place or two hours at an amusementfacility is set as a length of time for stay at a destination.

This stay length information may be set in advance with respect to eachspot data group. Alternatively, the user may set this stay lengthinformation through the operating section 106 with respect to each spotdata group.

Each of available time information and recommended visit timeinformation includes information on terms or dates including seasonssuch as spring, summer, autumn and winter, available times such as openhours, information on the beginnings and ends of recommended timeperiods in which a visit should be made.

In this embodiment, it is not necessary required that available timeinformation be set in spot data. If spot data having no available timeset therein is registered as a destination, design data is generated byassuming that the destination is available for 24 hours over 365 days.

In this embodiment, recommended visit time information is notnecessarily limited to information on one recommended time, i.e.,information on one point in time or one time period, such as a term, adate, a beginning time or an end time, in data on one spot. A pluralityof recommended visit times may be provided in data on one spot.

Description will now be made of information displayed on the displaysection 109 in this embodiment with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show an example of the configurations of frames displayedon the display section 109 in this embodiment.

In this embodiment, to generate a design data, the display section 109displays a design data menu frame, a destination search method selectionframe, a list of spot data representing destinations, and a result frameshowing results of design data, as described above.

More specifically, when design data described below is generatedaccording to a user instruction, the display section 109 displays adesign data menu frame through which the user is called on to inputnecessary information for generation of a route guidance process, aselection frame through which a method of registering a destination atthe time of registration of the destination is selected, and a listdisplay frame showing a list of registered destinations.

For example, in this embodiment, the display section 109 displays, asshown in FIG. 3A, a menu frame for enabling registration of a departuretime, a departure point, fellow passengers, a destination and a restplace by calling on the user to register these information items, anddisplays registered information items.

In the menu frame shown in FIG. 3A, “None designated” in a destinationsection signifies that a destination is set by a method described below.A rest place is used separately from a set destination as a destinationto which route guidance is performed in each of predetermined timeperiods, as described below with respect to another embodiment.

The display section 109 also displays, as shown in FIG. 3B, a selectionwindow for selection from an ordinary method of setting a destination tovisit by using a postal code number, a telephone number or map data, amethod of setting a destination to visit from regions to visit, and amethod setting a destination recommended as a place to visit.

The display section 109 further displays, as shown in FIG. 3C,registered destinations with respect to the above-mentioned genres in alist display frame, and a special mark particularly for a destination inthe genre “place to have meal”.

The display section 109 also displays design data generated by a routeguidance process generation section 123 after generation ofbelow-described design data according to an instruction from the user.

For example, in this embodiment, the display section 109 displays designdata generated on the basis of all the registered destinations anddisplays expected arrival times and expected departure times byassociating them to the destinations, as shown in FIG. 4A. If aplurality of groups of design data exist, they are displayed indescending order of priority.

In this embodiment, the system control section 115 obtains weatherforecast information with respect to each of destinations when thedisplay section 109 displays the destinations, as described below. Thedisplay section 109 displays the obtained weather forecast informationin correspondence with the destinations.

If no design data can be generated in some case, e.g., a case where thenumber of registered destinations is large or a case where onlydestinations of short available times are registered, the displaysection 109 displays information that no design data can be generatedand the reason for the impossibility of generating any design data.

For example, in a case where there is a destination which cannot bevisited, the display section 109 displays information that thedestination cannot be visited as well as the other sorts of information,as shown in FIG. 4B, while in this embodiment the display section 109displays basically in the same manner as in the case of success ingeneration of the above-described design data.

In this embodiment, in a case where there is a destination which cannotbe visited, the display section 109 displays the destination cannot bevisited, e.g., a symbol “x” to call on the user to reset and regeneratedesign data, as described below.

Description will now be made, with reference to FIG. 5, of the systemcontrol section 115 that generates design data and performs processmanagement based on the design data.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the systemcontrol section in this embodiment.

The system control section 115 includes, as sections for generatingdesign data and performing process management based on generated designdata, as shown in FIG. 5, a spot data extraction section 122 whichextracts, according to a registered destination, spot data on thedestination from the map data storage section 105, a route searchsection 122 which searches routes on the basis of extracted spot datagroups, the route guidance process generation section 123 whichgenerates design data on the basis of the results of the route search,the spot data groups and input departure times, a route guidance processmanagement section 124 which manages route guidance on the basis of thegenerated design data, a route guidance process control section 125which controls each section with respect to the generation andmanagement of the route guidance process. The sections are connected bya bus 117.

The system control section 144 includes, in addition to the spot dataextraction section 121, the route search section 122, the route guidanceprocess generation section 123, the route guidance process managementsection 124 and the route guidance process control section 125,processing sections which perform control processing including controlof the above-described sections, and which are not shown in the figure.The processing sections are connected to the above-described sectionsand externally connected by the bus 117.

For example, the spot data extraction section 121 constitutes the spotdata acquisition device in accordance with the present invention, andthe route guidance process generation section 123 constitutes thedeparture point data acquisition device, the generation device, thedetermination device, the required time computation device, the routegeneration device, the data generation device, the expected timecomputation device, the available time determination device, the staylength determination device, the changed stay length computation deviceand the priority computation device in accordance with the presentinvention.

Also, for example, the route guidance process management section 124 inthis embodiment constitutes the predicted time computation device, theresetting device, the time difference computation device, the resettingdetermination device, the route regeneration device, the determinationdevice, the travel time computation device, the distance computationdevice and the distance determination device in accordance with thepresent invention.

Further, for example, the route guidance process control section 125constitutes the detection device and the time setting device inaccordance with the present invention.

The spot data extraction section 121 obtains from the map data storagesection 105 the spot data group for a destination according to aninstruction from the user registered through the operating section 106and the speech recognition circuit 108, and outputs the obtained spotdata to the route guidance process generation section 123.

More specifically, when a destination is registered through theoperating section 106, the spot data extraction section 121 searches themap data storage section 105 on the basis of the registered destination,detects the spot data on the destination including the positioninformation, the genre information and the available time informationabout the destination, and outputs the detected spot data to the routesearch section and the route guidance process generation section 123.

The spot data extraction section 121 also searches the map data storagesection 105 with respect to a destination other than the registereddestination and detects the map data on the another destination(hereinafter referred to as “reserve destination”. The spot dataextraction section 121 stores the thus-detected spot data ondestinations in the ROM/RAM 116 on a genre-by-genre basis.

The reserve destination is used in an operation for management of aroute guidance process described below. The reserve destination is setin the route guidance process control section 125.

When design data is generated, a vehicle departure time and the positionof a departure point registered through the operating section 106 or thespeech recognition circuit 108, the spot data on destinations extractedby the spot data extraction section 121 are input to the route searchsection 122. The route search section 122 searches routes from thedeparture point to the destinations and routes among the destinations onthe basis of the input departure time and departure position and theposition information contained in the spot data on the destinations, andoutputs search results to the route guidance process generation section123.

More specifically, the route search section 122 searches routes betweenall pairs of points on the departure point and the destinations, andoutputs the routes between the pairs of points to the route guidanceprocess generation section 123.

To the route search section 122, information on the registered departuredate is also input. The route search section 122 obtains trafficinformation with respect to the input departure date through thecommunication section 114 and searches routes by considering the trafficinformation.

In this embodiment, the route search section 122 also performs ordinaryroute search processing to search a route to one of registereddestinations on the basis of vehicle present position data obtained bythe GPS reception section 101 and the spot data on the registereddestinations while referring to the map information stored in the mapdata storage section 105. The route search section 122 outputs searchresults thereby found to the display section 109 and other necessarysections.

When design data is generated, a vehicle departure time registeredthrough the operating section 106 or the speech recognition circuit 108,the spot data on destinations extracted by the spot data extractionsection 121 and data on routes between the departure point and thedestinations and routes between the destinations are input to the routeguidance process generation section 123. The route guidance processgeneration section 123 generates design data on a route extending fromthe departure point to one destination to another by referring to thedeparture time and stay length information and available date/hourinformation contained in the spot data, and outputs the design data tothe display section 109 and the speech processing circuit 112.

When the route guidance process generation section 123 generates designdata, it determines, with respect to each destination, whether or notthe visit time and the length of stay at the destination are containedin the available time indicated by the available time information. Ifthe visit time and the stay length are contained in the available timeof the destination, the route guidance process generation section 123outputs the corresponding route found by searching to each section. Ifthe visit time and the stay length are not contained in the availabletime of the destination, the route guidance process generation section123 discards the design data.

In this embodiment, design data generated by the route guidance processgeneration section 123 contains time information indicating an arrivaltime, a departure time and a stay length with respect to each ofdestinations. The design data is generated in a form containing thesetime information items.

The generation of design data in the route guidance process generationsection 123 in this embodiment will be described below in detail.

When one design data group generated as described above is selected bythe user, the route guidance process management section 124 performsprocessing for route guidance (hereinafter referred to as “routeguidance processing”) on the basis of the selected design data.

More specifically, the route guidance process management section 124makes a determination as to whether or not the expected arrival time andthe expected departure time of the destination which is not yet visitedon the basis of the vehicle present position data computed by the GPSreception section 101 (hereinafter referred to as “unvisiteddestination”) are contained in the available time in the spot data onthe destination, aside from management of expected arrival times andexpected departure times with respect to destinations in a selectedroute guidance process, and notifies the results of this determinationto the user through the display section 109 or the speaker 113.

The following description of this embodiment is made by referring to anexpected arrival time and an expected departure time of an unvisiteddestination computed in the route guidance process management section124 as “predicted arrival time” and “predicted departure time” fordiscrimination from expected arrival times and expected departure timesof the destinations registered in selected route data.

The route guidance process management section 124 regenerates the routeguidance process in the selected route data according to an instructionfrom the user with respect to the determination result, notifiesregenerated design data (hereinafter referred to as “redesign data”) tothe user through the display section 109 and the speaker 113, andchanges the route data used as a basis for route guidance from thedesign data to the redesign data according to the instructions from theuser.

When the route guidance process management section 124 redesigns theroute guidance process, it generates redesign data by controlling theroute search section 122 and the map data storage section 105. Thegeneration of redesign data in the route guidance process managementsection 124 will be described below in detail.

The route guidance process control section 125 controls theabove-described sections for generation of design data in a routeguidance process or for management of a route guidance process executedon the basis of selected route data. The route guidance process controlsection 125 controls the display section 109, the operating section 106and the communication system 114 through the system control section 115to register necessary data at the time of acquisition of weatherinformation described below and at the time of generation of design dataor management of a route guidance process in particular.

More specifically, the route guidance process control section 125enables rest time intervals, rest places and genre information about therest places to be registered through the operating section 106 whendesign data is generated. When route guidance is performed on the basisof selected route data, the route guidance process control section 125notifies the user that a rest will be taken at the rest time intervalsand of places to take the rest through the display section 109 and thespeaker 113.

Also, the above-described reserve destination is set in the routeguidance process control section 125. The route guidance process controlsection 125 obtains the spot data on the reserve destination set in thespot data extraction section 121.

More specifically, in a case where a destination is set by the ordinarymethod, the route guidance process control section 125 sets as a reservedestination a destination existing in a certain distance range from theregistered destination, as described above. In a case where adestination is registered by the method of setting a destination tovisit from a region to visit, and in a case where a destination isregistered by the method of setting a destination recommended as adestination to visit, the route guidance process control section 125sets as a reserve destination a destination not registered or selected,and stores the spot data on these destinations in the ROM/RAM 116, asdescribed above.

In a case where a destination is registered, for example, by the methodof setting a destination to visit from a region to visit, and in a casewhere the user registers a destination by the method of setting adestination recommended as a destination to visit, the route guidanceprocess generation section 123 generates a list of destinations whichare located in a destination area or within a certain distance rangefrom the registered destination (hereinafter referred to as “prioritizeddestination list”) on the basis of a destination condition input by theuser and information attributes of destinations stored in advance.

Also, the route guidance process generation section 123 presents thisprioritized destination list to the user to enable the user to registerone of the destinations. One of the destinations not registered fromthis prioritized destination list is set as a reserve destination.

Processing for generating design data (hereinafter referred to as“generation processing”) in the route guidance process generationsection 123 will now be described.

As described above, the route guidance process generation section 123generates design data on a route extending from a departure point to onedestination to another on the basis of a vehicle departure time, spotdata on destinations and route data while referring to stay lengthinformation and available date/hour information contained in the spotdata.

More specifically, the route guidance process generation section 123computes the required times between pairs of points in routes betweenthe departure point and destinations registered and routes between thedestinations on the basis of the results of searches between all thepairs of points on the departure point and the destinations, andgenerates a plurality of design data groups by using combinations of theroutes and the required times between the pairs of points.

When the route guidance process generation section 123 generates aplurality of design data groups, it generates a route guidance processby determining, with respect to each of the destinations, whether or notthe time to visit the destination and the length of time for stay at thedestination are contained in the available time and the recommendedvisit time.

For example, in this embodiment, if three destinations respectivelylocated at points A, B, and C are registered, the route guidance processgeneration section 123 computes a route between the departure point andpoint A, point B or point C and the time required for this route, aroute between point A and point B or point C and the time required forthis route, and a route between point B and point C and the timerequired for this route, and combines the computed routes and requiredtimes between the points to generate route data which can be a candidatefor a plurality of routes extending via the destinations.

In principle, in this embodiment, route data on ten route guidanceprocess of short required times in the entire route data is computed asdesign data on the basis of the required times in the route data and thestay lengths indicated by the stay length information for destinations.

When the route guidance process generation section 123 generates routedata groups, it arranges destinations in the order of the generatedroute data and determines, with respect to each destination, whether ornot the expected arrival time at the destination and the expecteddeparture time are contained in the available time of the destinationincluded in the spot data on the destination, on the basis of therequired times between the destinations and the information on the staylengths at the destinations. If the expected arrival time and theexpected departure time are not contained in the available time of thedestination, the route guidance process generation section 123 discardsthe design data, and outputs only the design data having the expectedarrival times and the expected departure times contained in theavailable times of the destinations as generated design data to eachsection.

If no available time information is contained in the map data on aregistered destination, design data is generated by assuming that thedestination is available for 24 hours over 365 days, as mentioned above.

If recommended visit time information is contained in the spot data onone destination, the route guidance process generation section 123determines whether or not in generated design data the time to visit thedestination and the expected stay length associated with the recommendedvisit time information coincide with the recommended destination visittime. The route guidance process generation section 123 increases thepriority with which the design data having the visit time and the staylength coinciding with the recommended visit time is presented to theuser.

Processing for setting the priority with which design data is presentedto the user (hereinafter referred to as “order processing”) will bedescribed below in detail.

If genre information indicating the genre “place to have meal” isprovided in the spot data on a registered destination as describedabove, the route guidance process generation section 123 generates routeguidance process generation data by considering a mealtime.

More specifically, in a case where genre information indicating thegenre “place to have meal” is included in the spot data on a registereddestination as described above, the route guidance process generationsection 123 generates route guidance process generation data such thatthe destination is visited in a meal time.

For example, in a case where a restaurant selected as desired isregistered as a destination and where the expected length of stay at therestaurant is one hour, the route guidance process generation section123 discards design data in which the time for the correspondingdestination is not scheduled as a restaurant for a lunch time fromeleven to fourteen or an evening dinner time from nineteen totwenty-one, and outputs only design data in which the correspondingdestination is scheduled for the set meal time as generated design datato each section.

In this embodiment, a mealtime is set in processing for generation ofeach design data, or set in advance as a specified value by the user.

In this embodiment, the route guidance process generation section 123performs order processing on the basis of a meal time when generatingdesign data in the same manner as in the above. This order processingwill be described bellow in detail.

When the route guidance process generation section 123 generates designdata, it also obtains information on a weather forecast (hereinafterreferred to as “weather forecast information”) at the time of stay at aregistered destination from a server apparatus selected as desiredthrough the communication section 114, and incorporates the obtainedweather forecast information for each destination in design data.

In this embodiment, weather forecast information is thus incorporatedfor each destination in design data, thereby enabling the weatherforecast at the time of a user's visit to the destination to bedisplayed on the display section 109 when the design data is displayedon the display section 109.

Thus, in this embodiment, design data is generated on the basis ofregistered destinations and the generated design data is provided to theuser through the display section 109 for example.

Description will now be made of priority processing for settingpriorities in the route guidance process generation section 123.

When the route guidance process generation section 123 generates designdata, it computes priorities for design data groups and presents thedesign data groups to the user according to the computed priorities. Inthis embodiment, for this computation of priorities, degrees of priorityset in advance as numeric values and the time required for the entireprocess in each design data group are used.

More specifically, the route guidance process generation section 123computes a degree of priority for each design data group on the basis ofrecommended visit time information and a meal time, and sets apresentation order in which the design data groups are presented to theuser on the basis of the total degree of priority computed for eachdesign data group and the time required for the entire process.

In this embodiment, when the route guidance process generation section123 generates design data groups, it determines priorities on the basisof the computed times required for the entire processes and rearrangesthe priorities for the design data groups if the required time in anyone of the design data group is included in a certain range set inadvance from the required time in another of the design data groupshigher in priority rank in terms of required time, and if the differencebetween the degrees of priority for the design data groups is within apredetermined range.

In this embodiment, each time the route guidance process generationsection 123 generates one design data group, it determines whether ornot the arrival time at one destination and the departure time from thedestination meets the recommended visit time included in the spot dataon the destination, whether or not a place to have a meal is scheduledfor a meal time set in advance in the generated design data, and whetheror not there is a match between weather information about anydestination and weather forecast information obtained via thecommunication section 114 with respect to the arrival time at thedestination and the departure time from the destination. If eachdestination in the design data meets the recommended visit time, or if aplace to have a meal is scheduled for the meal time set in advance inthe generated design data, the route guidance process generation section123 computes the total degree of priority for the design data by addinga degree of priority set in advance.

More specifically, in this embodiment, the route guidance processgeneration section 123 arranges route guidance process design datagroups generated without discarding data in increasing order of timerequired for the entire process, and determines whether or not theexpected arrival time at any one of the destinations set in one of thedesign data groups and the expected departure time from the destinationare contained in a recommended visit time for the destination set in thedesign data group. If one of the destinations in one design data groupmeets the recommended visit time, the route guidance process generationsection 123 increases the priority only for the destination meeting therecommended visit time.

In this embodiment, the time required for the entire process in eachdesign data group is computed as a required time from the departurepoint to the final destination.

Description will now be made of processing for process management(hereinafter referred to as “process management processing”) based onselected route data in the route guidance process management section 124in this embodiment.

The route guidance process management section 124 performs processmanagement processing on a route generated on the basis of selectedroute data and expected arrival times at destinations and expecteddeparture times from the destinations, as mentioned above. When theroute guidance process management section 124 redesigns the routeguidance process due to a delay in arrival from the expected arrivaltime at one destination and a delay in departure from the expecteddeparture time or an earlier arrival at the destination, it generatesredesign data by controlling the route guidance process generationsection 123, the route search section 122 and the map data storagesection 105 through the route guidance process control section 125.

More specifically, the route guidance process management section 124determines, at time intervals set in advance, with respect to eachdestination set in the selected route data, whether or not a delay equalto or larger than a predetermined time from the expected arrival timeset in the selected route data or earlier arrival will occur. If a delayfrom the expected arrival time or earlier arrival at the destinationwill occur, the route guidance process management section 124 presentsto the user information that the delay or earlier arrival will occur,and redesigns the route guidance process, that is, generates redesigndata according to an instruction from the user.

In this embodiment, if the route guidance process management section 124determines that arrival will occur at or before a time earlier by apredetermined time than the expected arrival time set in the selectedroute data, it notifies that earlier arrival at the destination to visitwill occur through the display section 109 or the speaker 113, changesthe position of the destination at which earlier arrival will occur andthe position of another destination in visit order with each other ornewly sets a destination before or after the destination at whichearlier arrival will occur, and newly designs a route guidance processon the basis of the change of the destinations or setting of the newdestination according to a presupposed instruction from the user. Theroute guidance process management section 124 presents the generatedroute guidance process, i.e., redesign data, to the user through thedisplay section 109 or the speaker 113.

Also, if the route guidance process management section 124 determinesthat a delay equal to or larger than a predetermined time from theexpected arrival time set in the selected route data will occur, itnotifies that a delay in arrival at the destination to visit will occurthrough the display section 109 or the speaker 113, changes the positionof the destination at which the delay will occur and the position ofanother destination in visit order with each other or removes thedestination at which the delay will occur, and newly designs a routeguidance process on the basis of the change of the destinations orremoval of the destination according to a presupposed instruction fromthe user. The route guidance process management section 124 presents thegenerated route guidance process, i.e., redesign data, to the userthrough the display section 109 or the speaker 113.

In this embodiment, when the route guidance process management section124 performs redesigning, it controls the map data extraction section121, the route search section 122 and the route guidance processgeneration section 123 in the above-described manner to obtain spot dataon a new destination, compute a route between two points on the newdestination and one of the unvisited destinations, and generate routeguidance process design data on the basis of the spot data, the routebetween the two points and the time required in the route as describedabove.

Further, during route guidance based on selected route data, the routeguidance process management section 124 continuously computes a lapse oftime, and notifies the user that rests will be taken at the rest timeintervals and of the places where rests will be taken through thedisplay section 109 and the speaker 113 on the basis of the rest timeintervals and the rest places or genre information on the rest placesregistered at the time of generation of the design data on the routeguidance process.

For example, in a case where rest time intervals of “two hours” and arest place genre “convenience store” are registered when design data isgenerated by the route guidance process generation section, the routeguidance process management section 124 notifies the user that a restwill be taken and of the rest place through the display section 109 andthe speaker 113 when the continuous travel time that has elapsed afterthe start of route guidance or the departure from one destination and arestart of route guidance becomes equal to two hours.

In this embodiment, the time period set in advance is set to two hoursin a case where no rest time periods or no rest places are registeredwhen design data is generated.

Description will now be made of operations in processing for initiatingroute guidance (hereinafter referred to as “setting start processing”)on the basis of design data in this embodiment with reference to FIGS. 6and 7.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are flowcharts showing operations in setting startprocessing in this embodiment.

When the user registers an instruction to prepare a route guidanceprocess in the route guidance process control section 125 provided inthe system control section 115 through the operating section 106, theroute guidance process control section 125 controls the display controlsection 111 in generation of the route guidance process to display onthe display section 109 the menu frame through which the user is calledon to input necessary information, and in which the information isdisplayed, as described above.

Subsequently, when the menu frame is displayed, and when the userregisters information for initiation of destination setting in the routeguidance process control section 125 by setting a departure date/time,fellow passengers and rest places through the operating section 106while referring to the menu frame displayed on the display section 109,the route guidance process control section 125 controls the displaycontrol section 111 to display the selection frame in which theselection methods for setting destinations are shown, as describedabove.

At this time, the route guidance process generation section obtainsweather forecast information about set destinations through thecommunication section 114 and notifies the user of the weather forecastinformation by relating this information to the destinations at the timeof notification of design data to the user.

Subsequently, when the selection frame is displayed, and when the userselects one selection menu through the operating section 106 whilereferring to the selection frame displayed on the display section 109,the route guidance process control section 125 makes the display section109 display the search frame for registration of destinations.

Subsequently, when the search frame is displayed, and when the userselects destinations while referring to the search frame displayed onthe display section 109, the route guidance process control section 125registers the selected destinations in the ROM/RAM 116 and againdisplays the search frame on the display section 109 before adestination setting termination operation is performed.

Subsequently, when the user inputs an instruction to display a list ofall of the registered destinations, i.e., an instruction to initiateediting of the destination information to the route guidance processcontrol section 125 through the operating section 106, the routeguidance process control section 125 displays the list of the registereddestinations on the display section 109, as described above.

Subsequently, when the user inputs an instruction to generate a routeguidance process to the route guidance process control section 125through the operating section 106, the route guidance process controlsection 125 conducts generation of design data on the basis of thedestinations registered as described above, and determines whether ornot some design data can be generated. In a case where some design datacan be generated, the route guidance process control section 125 makesthe display section 109 display generated design data. In a case whereno design data can be generated, the route guidance process controlsection 125 makes the display section 109 display design data with anindication of a non-visitable destination.

Design data generation processing operations in this processing in thisembodiment will be described below in detail.

In a case where the route guidance process control section 125 cangenerate some design data, the route guidance process control section125 initiates route guidance on the basis of one selected design datagroup, on condition that the one design data group is selected by theuser.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7, in a case where the routeguidance process control section 125 can generate no design data, theroute guidance process control section 125 makes the display section 109display to the user information that design data will be corrected.

Subsequently, when the user inputs an instruction to correct the designdata, the route guidance process control section 125 again conductsgeneration of design data on the basis of information on the correctionand the destinations registered as described above, and determineswhether or not some design data can be generated.

If the route guidance process control section 125 determines that somedesign data can be generated on the basis of the corrected destinations,it initiates route guidance on the basis of one selected design datagroup, on condition that the one design data group is selected by theuser, as it does in the above-described case.

Description will now be made of operations in design data generationprocessing in this embodiment with reference to FIG. 8.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing operations in generation processing inthis embodiment.

It is assumed with respect to this embodiment that a destination havinggenre information about a place to have a meal is necessarily set inadvance, and that twenty design data groups are computed in the routeguidance process generation section 123.

First, the user inputs an instruction to generate design data on thebasis of registered destination data to the route guidance processcontrol section 125 through the operating section 106 (step S11). Theroute guidance process control section 125 makes the spot dataextraction section 121 extract spot data groups and store information inthe spot data groups in the ROM/RAM 116 (step S12).

As described above, the route guidance process control section 125 alsosets a reserve destination by use of the route guidance processgeneration section 123, and stores in the ROM/RAM 116 information itemsin the spot data on the reserve destination extracted by the map dataextraction section 121.

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process generation section 123 determine whether or notavailable time information is contained in each registered spot datagroup (step S13). If available time information is contained in eachspot data group, an advance to processing in the next step S15 is made.If no available time information is contained in one of the spot datagroups, the route guidance process control section 125 makes a settingsuch that the available time of the destination is 24 hours over 356days, and stores the setting in the ROM/RAM 116 (step S14).

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process generation section 123 determine whether or notstay length information is contained in each registered spot data group(step S15). If stay length information is contained in each spot datagroup, an advance to processing in the next step S17 is made. If no staylength information is contained in one of the spot data groups, theroute guidance process control section 125 obtains genre informationabout the corresponding destination, sets an expected stay length set inadvance in correspondence with the genre as an expected time of stay atthe destination, and stores the expected stay length in the ROM/RAM 116(step S16).

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 generates,in the route guidance process generation section 123, at least one groupof design data on a route extending via the destinations by combiningroutes between two points on the departure point and the destinationsand the corresponding required times (step S17), as described above.After, generation of each design data group, operations described beloware performed.

The route guidance process control section 125 first makes the routeguidance process generation section 123 determine, on the basis ofavailable time information in the spot data on the destinations in thegenerated design data, whether or not the arrival time at one of thedestinations in the generated design data and the departure time fromthe destination are contained in the available time in the spot data onthe destination (step S18).

If, with respect to at least one of the destinations, the route guidanceprocess generation section 123 determines that the arrival time and thedeparture time are not contained in the available time in the spot dataon the destination, the route guidance process control section 125 makesthe route guidance process generation section 123 discard the generateddesign data (step S19), and makes a move to step S17 to generate thenext design data.

If, with respect to all the destinations in the generated design data,the route guidance process generation section 123 determines that thearrival time at the destination and the departure time from thedestination are contained in the available time in the spot data on thedestination, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process generation section 123 determine whether or notthe arrival time at one of the destinations having genre informationindicating a place to have a meal and the departure time from thedestination are contained in the meal time set in advance (step S20).

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines, withrespect to the destination set as a place to have a meal in thegenerated design data, that the arrival time at the destination and thedeparture time from the destination are not contained in the meal timeset in advance, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process generation section 123 discard the generateddesign data (step S21) and makes a move to step S17 to generate the nextdesign data.

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines, withrespect to the destination set as a place to have a meal in thegenerated design data, that the arrival time at the destination and thedeparture time from the destination are contained in the meal time setin advance, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process generation section 123 compute a degree ofpriority for the generated design data on the basis of recommended visittime information in the spot data on the destinations in the generateddesign data (steps S22, S23), as described above.

More specifically, the route guidance process generation section 123computes to determine, with respect to each destination in the generateddesign data, whether or not the arrival time at the destination in thegenerated design data and the departure time from the destination arecontained in the recommended visit time in the spot data on thedestination (step S22). If the arrival time at the destination and thedeparture time from the destination are not contained in the recommendedvisit information on the destination, a move to processing specified instep S24 is made without performing any particular processing. Each timethe arrival time at one of the destinations in one design data group andthe departure time from the destination are contained in the recommendedvisit time, one priority point is added. The result of addition computedwith respect to all the destinations in the design data group isobtained as the degree of priority (step S23).

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process generation section 123 determine whether or notall the design data groups have been generated (step S24). If thegeneration of all the design data groups has not been completed, a moveto step S17 is made.

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines that allthe design data groups have been generated, the route guidance processcontrol section 125 makes the route guidance process generation section123 perform the above-described priority processing on the basis of thedegrees of priority (step S25), and makes the display section 109display the design data groups in descending order of priority via theroute guidance process control section 125 (step S26) Generationprocessing then ends.

Operations in priority processing in the generation section in thisroute guidance process will be described below in detail.

Thus, in this embodiment, at least one group of design data is generatedand the user selects one design data group through the operating section106 on the basis of the displayed design data.

In this embodiment, management of route guidance is performed on thebasis of selected design data, as described below.

Description will now be made of operations in priority processing at thetime of generation of design data (hereinafter referred to as “priorityprocessing”) in this embodiment with reference to FIG. 9.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing operations in priority processing in thisembodiment.

In this embodiment, priority processing is performed on the basis of thedegrees of priority computed in step S23 in the above-describedgeneration processing.

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines that allthe design data groups have been generated by combining the routesbetween the two points in the departure point and the destinations andthe corresponding required times (step S24), it arranges all thegenerated design data groups in increasing order of time required forthe entire process (step S27).

At this time, the route guidance process generation section 123 deletesthe design data having the tenth or lower priorities.

Subsequently, the route guidance process generation section 123determines the order of the design data groups on the basis of thepoints added at step S24, i.e., the degrees of priority (step S28).

For example, one design data group having the fifth priority in terms ofthe time required for the entire process has a degree of priority of twopoints if the expected arrival times and the expected departure times oftwo destination set in the design data are contained in the recommendedvisit time. The priority of the design data group is therefore increasedby two. Consequently, the priority of this design data group is thethird. Processing in step S27 is performed from the lower priority.

Subsequently, the route guidance process generation section 123 presentsthe three design data groups having the top three priorities to the userthrough the display section 109 and the speech processing circuit 112(step S29), thereby completing this processing.

Description will now be made of process management processing based ondesign data in this embodiment with reference to FIG. 10.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing operations in process managementprocessing in this embodiment.

This process management processing is executed when route guidance forthe vehicle is performed on the basis of selected route data and thefollowing processing is executed at a predetermined time interval duringthe route guidance.

When the route guidance process control section 125 detects a lapse oftime set in advance during route guidance (step S31), it makes the routeguidance process management section 124 compute predicted arrival timesat unvisited ones of the destinations set in selected route data(unvisited destinations) (step S32).

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process management section 124 compare the predictedarrival times at the unvisited destinations and the expected arrivaltimes at the unvisited destinations set in the selected route data todetermine, with respect to each of the unvisited destinations, whetheror not there is a time difference equal to or longer than a certain timeperiod determined in advance for the destination between the predictedarrival time and the expected arrival time (step S33).

In this embodiment, if there is a time difference equal to or longerthan the certain time period between the predicted arrival time and theexpected arrival time with respect to at least one of the unvisiteddestinations, the route guidance process management section 124determines that there is a time difference equal to or longer than thecertain time period between the predicted arrival times and the expectedarrival times, and determines, with respect to each destination, whetheror not there is a time difference equal to or longer than 10 minutesbetween the expected arrival time and the predicted arrival time.

If the route guidance process management section 124 determines thatthere is no time difference equal to or longer than the certain timeperiod between the predicted arrival time and the expected arrival timeat any of the unvisited destinations, the route guidance process controlsection 125 makes a move to processing in step S31. If the routeguidance process management section 124 determines that there is a timedifference equal to or longer than the certain time period between thepredicted arrival time and the expected arrival time, the route guidanceprocess control section 125 makes the route guidance process managementsection 124 determine whether the time difference equal to or longerthan the certain time period is due to a delay or earlier arrival (stepS34).

If the route guidance process management section 124 determines that thetime difference equal to or longer than the certain time period is dueto earlier arrival, the route guidance process control section 125 makesa move to earlier processing described below. If the route guidanceprocess management section 124 determines that the time difference equalto or longer than the certain time period is due to a delay, the routeguidance process control section 125 makes the route guidance processmanagement section 124 perform process management processing in the caseof delay (hereinafter referred to as “delay processing”) describedbelow.

The route guidance process control section 125 first makes the routeguidance process management section 124 compute predicted departuretimes from the unvisited destinations on the basis of the predictedarrival times at the unvisited destinations and stay length informationon the destinations (step S35).

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process management section 124 determine whether or notthe computed predicted departure time from one of the unvisiteddestinations is contained in the available time in the spot data on thedestination (step S36).

If the expected departure time is contained in the available time of thedestination, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process management section 124 notify the delay time andthe occurrence of the delay through the system control section 115 bythe display section 109 or the speaker 113 (step S37). This processmanagement processing is then terminated.

If the expected departure time at the destination is not contained inthe available time of the destination, the route guidance processcontrol section 125 makes the route guidance process management section124 inquire of the user whether or not regeneration of the routeguidance process should be performed (step S38) and make a determinationaccording to an instruction from the user (step S39).

If regeneration of the route guidance process is not selected by theuser, and if the route guidance process management section determinesthat regeneration of the route guidance process will not be performed(step S39), this processing is terminated.

When this process management processing is terminated by thisprocessing, the route guidance process control section 125 determinesthat the user does not wish to perform regeneration of the routeguidance process, and decides not to perform this process managementprocessing before departure from the next destination.

In a case where the route guidance process management section 124inquires of the user whether or not regeneration of the route guidanceprocess should be performed (step S38) and the user selects regenerationof the route guidance process (step S39), the route guidance processcontrol section 125 makes the route guidance process management section124 change the positions of unvisited destinations in visit order,generate design data for the route guidance process by using at leastone combination of the positions in visit order (step S40), anddetermine whether or not design data for the route guidance process canbe generated (step S41).

More specifically, in this processing, the route guidance processmanagement section changes the positions in visit order in all routepatterns of the unvisited destinations, performs the above-describeddesign data generation processing on the basis of the positions of thedestinations changed in visit order, and determines whether or not theabove-described design data generation processing using the unvisiteddestinations can be performed.

If the route guidance process management section 124 can generate designdata for the route guidance process by at least one combination of thepositions in visit order, the route guidance process control section 125makes the route guidance process management section 124 generateredesign data by removing the nearest unvisited destination and notifyredesign data newly generated by replacement with the redesign datagenerated by removing the destination to the user through the systemcontrol section 115 by the display section 109 or the speaker 113 (stepS42).

In this processing, a destination to be removed other than the nearestunvisited destination may be selected by the user through the operatingsection.

In this processing, if a plurality of redesign data groups aregenerated, one of them formed by a smaller number of changes of thedestinations and having the highest priority is set as a new redesigndata generated by this change processing.

If the route guidance process management section 124 cannot generatedesign data for the route guidance process by any combination of thepositions in visit order, the route guidance process control section 125makes the route guidance process management section 124 inquires of theuser whether or not the nearest unvisited destination should be removedthrough the route guidance process control section 125 by the displaysection 109 or the speaker 113 (step S43).

If removal of the nearest unvisited destination in the selected routedata is selected by the user, the route guidance process control section125 makes the route guidance process management section 124 performdeletion processing for removing the selected unvisited destination(step S44) and controls the sections to perform route guidance on thebasis of the selected route data. This management processing is thenterminated.

More specifically, in this deletion processing, the destination to benext visited in the unvisited destinations is removed from the selectedroute data and route guidance process management is continued on thebasis of the selected route data from which the destination has beenremoved.

In this processing, a destination to be removed other than the nearestdestination may be selected by the user through the operating section.

If removal of the nearest unvisited destination in the selected routedata is not selected by the user, the route guidance process controlsection 125 immediately terminates this processing.

When this process management processing is terminated by thisprocessing, the route guidance process control section 125 determinesthat the user does not wish to perform regeneration of the routeguidance process, and decides not to perform this process managementprocessing before departure from the next destination.

Description will now be made of operations in early arrival processingin process management processing in this embodiment with reference toFIG. 11.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing early arrival processing in processmanagement processing in this embodiment.

In this embodiment, as mentioned above, when design data for a routeguidance process is generated, a predetermined number of destinationsnot registered as destinations are stored in advance in the RAM/ROM 116.

In a case where the route guidance process management section 124determines in step S34 that the time difference equal to or longer thanthe certain time period is due earlier arrival as described above, theroute guidance process control section 125 makes the route guidanceprocess management section 124 compare the predicted arrival times atthe destinations not yet visited (unvisited destinations) and theexpected arrival times at the unvisited destinations set in the selectedroute data to determine, with respect to each of the destinations,whether or not there is a time difference equal to or longer than acertain time period determined in advance for the destination (stepS51).

In this embodiment, if there is a time difference equal to or longerthan the certain time period between the predicted arrival time and theexpected arrival time with respect to at least one of the unvisiteddestinations, the route guidance process management section determinesthat there is a time difference equal to or longer than the certain timeperiod between the predicted arrival times and the expected arrivaltimes, and determines, with respect to each destination, whether or notthere is a time difference equal to or longer than 20 minutes betweenthe expected arrival time and the predicted arrival time, as it does inthe above-described step S33.

If the route guidance process management section 124 determines thatthere is no time difference equal to or longer than the certain timeperiod between the predicted arrival time and the expected arrival timeat any of the unvisited destinations, the route guidance process controlsection 125 makes the route guidance process management section 124indicate the arrival time and the occurrence of earlier arrival throughthe display 109 or the speaker 113 (step S52). This process managementprocessing is then terminated.

If the route guidance process management section 124 determines thatthere is a time difference equal to or longer than the certain timeperiod between the predicted arrival times and the expected arrivaltimes at the unvisited destinations, the route guidance process controlsection 125 makes the route guidance process management section 124perform change processing for changing the positions of the unvisiteddestinations in visit order (step S53).

More specifically, in this processing, the positions in visit order inall route patterns of the unvisited destinations are changed and theabove-described design data generation processing is performed on thebasis of the positions of the destinations changed in visit order.

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process management section 124 determine whether or notredesign data can be newly generated by change processing (step S54).

More specifically, the route guidance process management section 124determines whether or not the time required for the entire process ofredesign data having a smaller number of changes of the destinations isshorter than the time required for the entire process in the selectedroute data.

If the route guidance process management section 124 achieves success ingenerating new design data for the route guidance process by changeprocessing, that is, if the time required for the entire processaccording to the redesign data having a smaller number of changes of thedestinations is shorter than the time required for the entire process inthe selected route data, the route guidance process control section 125makes the route guidance process management section 124 notify the userof the newly generated redesign data through the display section 109 orthe speaker 113 (step S55), when the newly generated redesign data isselected by the user (step S56), and continues route guidance processmanagement by using the newly generated redesign data as selected routedata (step S57).

If the route guidance process management section 124 determines that nonew design data for the route guidance process can be generated bychange processing, that is, if the time required for the entire processaccording to the redesign data having a smaller number of changes of thedestinations is longer than the time required for the entire process inthe selected route data, or if the destinations are changed by the userin step S56 and the newly generated redesign date is not selected, theroute guidance process control section 125 makes the route guidanceprocess management section 124 generate a route guidance process in theabove-described manner and search the reserve destinations stored in theROM/RAM 116 for one existing on the selected route or in a certaindistance range from the route (step S58).

If no destination is found, the route guidance process managementsection 124 sets one destination closest to the route as a newdestination. If a plurality of destinations are found, one of themexisting on the route indicated by the selected route data or one ofthem closest to the route is set as a new destination.

If the route guidance process management section 124 finds onedestination existing on the selected route or in the certain distancerange from the route from those stored in the ROM/RAM 116, the routeguidance process control section 125 adds this destination to theunvisited destinations and controls the route guidance processgeneration section 123 to generate design data as described above (stepS59).

In this processing, if a plurality of redesign data groups aregenerated, one of them formed by a smaller number of changes of thedestinations and having the shortest time required for the entireprocess according to the redesign data is set as a new redesign data.

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process management section 124 determine whether or notredesign data in the new route guidance process has been generated (stepS60).

More specifically, the route guidance process management section 124determines whether or not the sum of the time differences between theexpected arrival times in the redesign and the expected arrival times inthe selected route data is shorter than a predetermined time set inadvance.

If the route guidance process management section 124 determines that thesum of the time differences between the expected arrival times in theredesign and the expected arrival times in the selected route data isshorter than a predetermined time set in advance, the route guidanceprocess control section 125 determines that redesign data in the newroute guidance process has been generated, notifies the user of the newredesign data, sets the new redesign data as selected route data (stepS61) and controls the sections to perform route guidance based on theset selected route data, thereby completing this process.

If the route guidance process management section 124 determines that thesum of the time differences between the expected arrival times in theredesign and the expected arrival times in the selected route data islonger than a predetermined time set in advance, the route guidanceprocess control section 125 determines that redesign data in the newroute guidance process cannot be generated, and terminates this processmanagement processing.

Thus, the arrangement in this embodiment is provided with the routeguidance process generation section 123 that obtains departure pointdata including at least data on the position of a vehicle at a departurepoint, the operating section 106 through which destinations to which thevehicle should travel are registered, the spot data extraction section121 that obtains spot data on a destination including at least locationdata indicating the location of the destination, stay length informationrepresenting information on an expected length of stay at thedestination and available time information indicating availabledates/times of the destination, the map data storage device 105 in whichmap data is stored, and the route guidance process generation section123 that generates data on a route from the departure point to onedestination including at least an expected arrival time at thedestination on the basis of the departure point location data obtained,the spot data on the registered destinations and the map data. In thisarrangement, the system control section 115 performs route guidance froma departure point to a destination on the basis of generated designdata.

In this arrangement, according to this embodiment, spot data on adestination including at least location data indicating the location ofthe destination, information on a length of stay at the destination andinformation on the available time of the destination is obtained, designdata for a route guidance process from a departure point to thedestination including an expected arrival time is generated on the basisof departure point location data obtained, spot data on registereddestinations and map data, and route guidance from the departure pointto the destination is performed on the basis of the generated designdata.

Thus, route guidance from a departure point to a destination can beperformed on the basis of stay lengths at registered destinations andavailable times of the destinations. Therefore, if a date/time at whichroute guidance is performed is set, efficient route guidance can beachieved such that the route guidance date/time coincides with anavailable date/time and stay lengths are considered.

In a case where a plurality of destinations are registered by theoperating section 105, the arrangement in this embodiment is alsoprovided, so that the route guidance process generation section 123generates route data on a route extending from a departure point to onedestination to another.

In this arrangement, according to this embodiment, the route guidanceprocess generation section 123 generates route data on a route extendingfrom a departure point to one destination to another in a case where aplurality of destinations are registered by the operating section 106.Therefore, if a date/time at which route guidance is performed is set,efficient route guidance can be achieved such that the route guidancedate/time coincides with an available date/time; stay lengths at theplurality of destinations can be taken into consideration; and the routeextends via the plurality of destinations.

The arrangement in this embodiment is also provided with the displaysection 109 and the speech processing circuit 112 through which at leastone of design data generated by the route guidance process generationsection 123 and destination information representing information ondestinations including at least expected arrival times at thedestinations in the design data is notified.

This arrangement in this embodiment enables notification of destinationinformation or design data and enables information on destinations whichwill be visited to be provided to a user.

In a case where destination information includes at least one ofinformation on names of registered destinations, expected departure timeinformation indicating expected departure times from the destinations inroute data, and expected stay length information indicating expectedstay lengths at the destinations in the route data, the arrangement inthis embodiment is also provided, so that the display section 109 andthe speech processing circuit 112 notify at least one of information onthe destination names, information on the expected arrival times,information on the expected departure times, and information on the staylengths.

In this arrangement, according to this embodiment, the display section109 and the speech processing circuit 112 notify at least one ofinformation on the destination name information, the expected arrivaltime information and the stay length information, thereby enablingdestination information from these sorts information to be provided tothe user.

The arrangement in this embodiment is also provided with the operatingsection 106 in a case where a plurality of route data groups aregenerated by the route guidance process generation section 123 and wherethe display section 109 and the speech processing circuit 112 notify theplurality of route data groups generated, the operating section 106selecting one of the plurality of route data groups notified. In thisarrangement, the system control section 115 performs route guidance froma departure point to a destination on the basis of the selected designdata.

In a case where a plurality of generated design data groups exist, thisarrangement in this embodiment enables selection from one of a pluralityof presented design data groups. Therefore, if a date/time at whichroute guidance is performed is set, efficient route guidance can beachieved such that the route guidance date/time coincides with anavailable date/time coincide with and stay lengths are considered. Also,a route according to user's demand can be selected.

The arrangement in this embodiment is also provided, so that the routeguidance process generation section 123 computes the time required forthe entire process according to design data and generates route data onthe basis of the computed design data required time.

In this arrangement, according to this embodiment, design data can begenerated by computing the time required for the entire processaccording to design data. Therefore, if a date/time at which routeguidance is performed is set, efficient route guidance can be achievedsuch that the time required for the entire process on the route aretaken into consideration; the route guidance date/time coincides with anavailable date/time; and stay lengths are also considered.

In a case where the route guidance process generation section 123obtains as departure point data a departure date/departure time from adeparture point as well as the location of the departure point, thearrangement in this embodiment is also provided, so that the routeguidance process generation section 123 searches routes to a destinationon the basis of map data and data on the locations of destinations,outputs at least one route as a search result, determines whether or nota visit can be made within the period of the available dates/times ofthe registered destination on the basis of the obtained departure pointdata, the output search result, information on the stay lengths at thedestinations and information on the available dates/times of thedestinations, and generates route data on a route extending from thedeparture point to one destination to another on the basis of the resultof the determination.

This arrangement in this embodiment makes it possible to generate designdata on a route extending from a departure point to one destination toanother on the basis of the result of a determination based on obtaineddeparture point data, an output route result, information on staylengths at destinations and information on available dates/times of thedestinations, thereby achieving efficient route guidance according touser's demand such that a destination to which the user wishes to visitcan be reliably included in the design data; the date/time at which theroute guidance is performed coincides with an available date/time; andthe stay lengths are considered.

In a case where the route guidance process generation section 123determines that a visit to at least one destination cannot be made onthe basis of information on the stay lengths at the destinations andinformation on available dates/times of the destinations, thearrangement in this embodiment is also provided, so that the displaysection 109 and the speech processing circuit 112 notify that a visit toat least one destination cannot be made.

In this arrangement, according to this embodiment, if it is determinedon the basis of information on the stay lengths at the destinations andinformation on available dates/times of the destinations that a visit toone of the destinations cannot be made, the display section 109 and thespeech processing circuit 112 notify that a visit to at least one of thedestinations cannot be made, and can inform the user that the visit tothe destination cannot be made before arrival at the destination,thereby enabling the user to change the schedule in advance.

The arrangement in this embodiment is also provided, so that the routeguidance process generation section 123 computes an expected arrivaltime at a destination and an expected departure time from thedestination on the basis of obtained departure point data, searchresults output from search device and information on stay lengths atdestinations obtained by the spot data extraction section 121, anddetermines whether or not the computed expected arrival time andexpected departure time are contained in the available time indicated bythe available time of the destination.

This arrangement in this embodiment enables the user to be notified,before departure, of a destination to which a visit cannot be made, andenables a destination to which the user wishes to visit to be reliablyincluded in design data, thereby achieving efficient route guidanceaccording to user's demand such that the date/time at which the routeguidance is performed coincides with an available date/time, and thestay lengths are considered.

In a case where the route guidance process generation section 123determines that a visit to at least one destination cannot be made onthe basis of information on the stay lengths at the destinations andinformation on available dates/times of the destinations, thearrangement in this embodiment is also provided, so that the routeguidance process generation section 123 determines whether or not thedestination to which a visit cannot be made can be made visitable bychanging the stay length indicated by information on the length of stayat the destination, and computes a change in stay length if itdetermines that the non-visitable destination can be visited if the staylength is changed, and the display section 109 and the speech 112 notifythe computed change in stay length to be made.

This arrangement in this embodiment enables the user to be notified ofthe length of stay at a destination which the user may visit even byshortening the stay length, and to determine whether or not all theregistered destinations can be visited if the stay length is shortened.

The arrangement in this embodiment is also provided, so that the spotdata extraction section 121 obtains genre information on a registereddestination and obtains information on the length of stay at theregistered destination on the basis of the obtained genre information.

This arrangement in this embodiment ensures that stay length informationcan be obtained even if the stay length information is not contained inspot data, thereby achieving efficient route guidance considering staylengths even in a case where destinations having no stay lengthinformation contained in spot data are registered or destinations areregistered without entering stay length information in advance for easeof user's input operation.

The arrangement in this embodiment is also provided with the operatingsection 106 through which predicted stay length information is set inadvance in a state of being associated with spot data. In thisarrangement, the spot data extraction section 121 obtains the setpredicted stay length information at the time of obtaining spot data.

This arrangement in this embodiment makes it possible to set in advancestay lengths to be contained in spot data, and to set a route on thebasis of the set stay lengths, thereby achieving efficient routeguidance considering the stay length at a destination according touser's demand.

In this embodiment, the route guidance process generation section 123computes a priority for each of route data groups in relation to theothers on the basis of spot data on registered destinations, and thedisplay section 109 and the speech processing circuit 112 notify one ofeach route data group or destination information in the route data onthe basis of the computed required times of the route data groups andthe computed priorities.

This arrangement in this embodiment enables the user to be notified ofdesign data groups in descending order of priority, that is, in orderfrom one of the design data groups matching the available time of adestination, prepared by considering a meal time and a recommended visittime and having a higher degree of priority. Since the design data firstpresented represents a route most strongly recommended from theviewpoint of the time to visit the destination for example, the user caneasily select the recommended design data.

In a case where map data includes at least one of genre informationindicating the genres of destinations and weather information indicatingwhether or not a visit can be made according to the weather, thearrangement in this embodiment is also provided, so that the routeguidance process generation section 123 computes a priority for each ofroute data groups in relation to the others on the basis of spot data onregistered destinations.

This arrangement in this embodiment makes it possible to compute apriority for each design group by considering weather information orgenre information on the registered destinations, thereby enabling theuser to set a route in which the date/time of the route guidancecoincides with an available date/time, and which is most stronglyrecommended from the viewpoint of the time to visit the destination forexample.

The arrangement in this embodiment is also provided, so that map datamay include at least one of genre information indicating the genres ofdestinations and weather information indicating whether or not a visitcan be made according to the weather and the display section 109 and thespeech processing circuit 112 may be provided. In this arrangement, whenroute data is generated by the route guidance process generation section123, the display section 109 and the speech processing circuit 112notify one of the genre information or the weather information on onedestination registered through the operating section 105.

This arrangement in this embodiment makes it possible to notify theweather or the genre of each destination when design data is notified tothe user. Thus, the weather and the genre of a set destination can beeasily notified.

The arrangement in this embodiment is also provided with the GPSreception section 101 and the sensor section 102 that obtain presentposition data indicating the present position of the vehicle when routeguidance is performed and the route guidance process management section124 that computes, during route guidance, on the basis of the obtainedvehicle present position data, a predicted arrival time at which arrivalat one of registered destinations will occur, and regenerates data on aroute from the obtained present vehicle position to an unvisiteddestination set in route data but not yet visited, on the basis of theexpected arrival time and the computed predicted arrival time. In thisarrangement, the system control section 115 performs route guidance onthe basis of the regenerated selected route data.

In this arrangement, according to this embodiment, a predicted arrivaltime at which arrival at one of registered destinations will occur iscomputed on the basis of the obtained present position of the mobileunit during route guidance; design data on a route from the obtainedpresent mobile unit position to an unvisited destination set in theroute data but not yet visited is regenerated on the basis of theexpected arrival time and the computed predicted arrival time; and routeguidance is performed on the basis of the regenerated redesign data.

In this embodiment, if earlier arrival or a delay in arrival at adestination occurs, it is determined on the basis of a predicted arrivaltime at the destination and an expected arrival time at the destinationset in the selected route data that the process does not progress inaccordance with the selected route data. In this way, route resetting isenabled in a case where the process does not progress in accordance withthe selected route data during route guidance. Therefore, efficientroute guidance can be achieved such that the actual guidance route isconsidered while checking available times and stay lengths.

The arrangement in this embodiment is also provided, so that thegenerated route guidance process management section 124 computes thetime difference between expected arrival times and computed predictedarrival times, determines on the basis of the computed time differencewhether or not a route to an unvisited destination set in selected routedata should be regenerated, and performs regeneration of route data whenit determines that the route to the unvisited destination should beregenerated.

In this arrangement, according to this embodiment, if earlier arrival ora delay in arrival at a destination occurs, it is determined on thebasis of a predicted arrival time at the destination and an expectedarrival time at the destination set in the selected route data that theprocess does not progress in accordance with the selected route data. Inthis way, route resetting is enabled in a case where the process doesnot progress in accordance with the selected route data during routeguidance. Therefore, efficient route guidance can be achieved such thatthe actual guidance route is considered while checking available timesand stay lengths.

The arrangement in this embodiment is also provided, so that theregenerated route guidance process management section 124 determines onthe basis of a computed time difference at least one of addition of adestination to be newly set as an intermediate destination and removalof a destination set in route data, and determines on the basis of theresult of this determination whether or not a route to an unvisiteddestination set in the selected route data should be regenerated.

In this arrangement, according to this embodiment, if arrival before orafter an available time of any destination, e.g., earlier arrival ordelay in arrival relative to an expected time set in the selected routedata occurs, a destination without allowance for variation in arrivaltime with respect to available time or open hours can be removed oradded. Therefore, even in a case where the actual route guidance processallows delay or earlier arrival with respect to the selected route data,a visit to a destination according to user's demand can be ensuredwithout changing the entire schedule based on the selected route data.

In a case where a plurality of unvisited destinations exist when thesystem control circuit 115 performs route guidance based on route data,the arrangement in this embodiment is also provided, so that the routeguidance process management section 124 regenerates data on a route fromthe present vehicle position to an unvisited destination obtained bychanging the unvisited destination visit order set in the selected routedata.

In this arrangement, according to this embodiment, if arrival before orafter an available time of any destination, e.g., earlier arrival ordelay in arrival relative to an expected time set in the selected routedata occurs, a destination with allowance for variation in arrival timewith respect to available time or open hours and a destination withoutallowance for variation in arrival time with respect to available timecan be changed with each other. Therefore, even in a case where theactual route guidance process allows earlier arrival or delay withrespect to the selected route data, a visit to a destination accordingto user's demand can be ensured without changing the entire schedulebased on the selected route data.

The arrangement in this embodiment is also provided, so that the displaysection 109 and the speech processing circuit 112 notify that the routeguidance process management section 124 regenerates selected route data.

This arrangement in this embodiment enables the user to be notified ofregeneration of selected route data.

The arrangement in this embodiment is also provided with the operatingsection 106 through which selection is made as to whether or not routeguidance should be performed on the basis of route data regenerated bythe route guidance process generation section 123 in a case where thedisplay section 109 and the speech processing circuit 112 notifyregeneration of route data. In this arrangement, the route guidanceprocess management section 124 regenerates the route when regenerationof the route is selected through the operating section 106.

This arrangement in this embodiment enables the user to confirmregeneration of selected route data, thus realizing route guidanceaccording to user's demand.

In this embodiment, each setting is made through the operating section106 in generation processing and process management processing. Thearrangement may alternatively be such that the speech recognitioncircuit 108 is used instead of the operating section 106 to makesettings and selections by device of speeches uttered by the user.

In this embodiment, in a case where destinations are registered as afinal destination and intermediate points when the route guidanceprocess generation section 123 generates design data for a routeguidance process, the route guidance process generation section 123 maygenerate design data by fixing only the final destination, or maygenerate design data on the basis of the above-described available timeand so on with respect to all destinations in a case where thedestinations are registered without fixing the final destination.

In the description of this embodiment, description has been made ofroute guidance process generation processing by assuming that adestination corresponding to the genre “place to have meal” isnecessarily included in registered destinations. In a case where nogenre information “place to have meal” is provided for registereddestinations at the time of generation of design data, a display forsetting a place to have a meal is produced on condition that a settingfor this display is made in advance by the user; the regenerationprocessing is interrupted; a setting of a destination as a place to havea meal is made; and the processing is resumed from a starting operation.Further, not only in this case but also in a case where a setting ismade not to interrupt the generation processing even when the userregisters no place to have a meal, the determination step (step S20)with respect to a place to have a meal in the generation processing isnot performed.

In this embodiment, registration of destinations is performed by theoperating section 106 and the route guidance process control section125. However, the route guidance process control section 125 performs,instead of the operation using the operating section 106, an operationto obtain destinations by obtaining drive information stored on theInternet via the communication section 114.

In such a case, the drive information is constituted by a plurality ofdestinations, spot data on the destinations and route data, and theroute guidance process control section 125 sets this route data asselected route data and uses the spot data on the destinations obtainedas spot data groups. However, for points without spot data, values setin correspondence with genres in advance are used.

In this embodiment, spot data may include sightseeing guide informationfor guidance about points worthy of notes or the like in destinations ordestination areas, and this guide information may be presented by thedisplay section 109 and the speech processing circuit 112 when thevehicle comes close to a distance range from the destination having thisguide information.

In this embodiment, generation of design data and redesign data andguidance control using the design data are performed by theabove-described navigation apparatus 100, i.e., the route guidanceprocess generation section 123 and the route guidance process managementsection 124. However, the arrangement may be such that the navigationapparatus 100 having map data and an information recording medium onwhich the map data is stored is provided with a computer and a recordingmedium, the above-mentioned route data generation program and managementprogram are stored on this recording medium, and the computer readsthese control programs to perform the same generation processing andmanagement processing as those described above.

In this embodiment, the navigation apparatus of the present invention isapplied to a navigation apparatus mounted on a vehicle. Needless to say,the functions in the system control sections 115, i.e., those of the mapdata extraction section 121, the route search section 122, the routeguidance process generation section 123, the route guidance processmanagement section 124, the route guidance process control section 125,may be provided in a server apparatus installed in any place,communication between the server apparatus and a terminal apparatusmounted on a vehicle may be performed via a communication circuit suchas an Internet circuit, and the server apparatus may perform generationprocessing and management processing.

In such a case, the server apparatus stores various sorts of dataincluding design data necessary for generation processing and managementprocessing for each of vehicles, and the terminal apparatus has acommunication section for communication with the server apparatus. Theterminal apparatus transmits various sorts of data registered through anoperating section, and also transmits and receives design data andcontrol data for control of route guidance to perform generationprocessing and management processing.

While in this embodiment the navigation apparatus of the presentinvention is applied to a navigation apparatus mounted on a vehicle, itmay be applied to a portable terminal device for pedestrians.

In such a case, information on the present position of the portableterminal device may be obtained not by the GPS reception sensor 101 andthe sensor section 102 but by a present position acquisition section inthe portable terminal device, which obtains the information by use ofradio waves for communication.

In this embodiment, when design data is generated in the route guidanceprocess generation section 123, priorities for design data groups arecomputed. However, priorities for design data groups may be computed insuch a manner that information on an estimated cost necessary at eachdestination (hereinafter referred to as “estimated cost information”) isstored together with spot data in the map data storage section 105, andpriorities for design data groups are computed on the basis of anestimated cost required for the entire process (hereinafter referred toas “total estimated cost”) at the time of generation of a route guidanceprocess.

For example, when an instruction to generate a route guidance process isregistered and when the system control section 115 demands registrationof information necessary for generation of the route guidance process,the system control section 115 calls on the user to register informationon the total estimated cost. When the system control section 115generates design data on the basis of registered destinations, and thesystem control section 115 makes the route guidance process generationsection 123 compute the total estimated cost on the basis of estimatedcost information on the destinations. When priority processing isperformed, the system control section 115 makes the route guidanceprocess generation section 123 set the priority of design data groupshaving total estimated costs not exceeding a registered total costhigher than the priority of design data groups having estimated costsexceeding the registered total cost.

Thus, in this case, design data can be generated by considering thetotal estimated cost expected by the user.

Second Embodiment

A second embodiment of the navigation apparatus according to the presentinvention will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13.

A feature of this embodiment resides in that, in addition to generationof design data based on spot data on registered destinations and routeguidance management in the first embodiment, route guidance processprocessing is performed by generating design data on the basis ofweather information on destinations on a departure date/time or at thetime of route guidance. In other respects, the arrangement is the sameas that of the first embodiment. The same components are indicated bythe same reference numerals and description for the same components willnot be repeated.

Description will first be made of the route guidance process controlsection 125 and the route guidance process management section 124 ofthis embodiment.

The route guidance process control section 125 performs the sameoperations as those in the first embodiment and, in setting startprocessing in the first embodiment, allows the user to register adestination area to visit when the user sets a departure date/time,fellow passengers and rest places on the basis of a menu frame display,and obtains weather forecast information on the destination area on thedeparture date/time on the basis of information about the destinationarea. If a destination determined as non-visitable according to thisweather information exists in the destination area, the route guidanceprocess control section 125 does not permit display of the destinationon the display section 109.

More specifically, the route guidance process control section 125determines whether or not one of destinations existing in the setdestination area can be visited on the basis of the weather informationstored in spot data with respect to the destination area and the weatherforecast information on the destination obtained through thecommunication section 114. If one of the destinations in the destinationarea is determined as non-visitable on the basis of the weatherinformation, the route guidance process control section 125 does notpermit display of the destination determined as non-visitable when thedestination setting frame described in the description of the firstembodiment is displayed.

For example, if a destination having such weather information stored inspot data that the destination cannot be visited under the conditionthat rainy weather or snowy weather exists in the destination area, andif weather information indicating that the weather at the destinationwill be rainfall or snowfall and including a rainfall probability higherthan a certain value with respect to the destination is obtained, theroute guidance process control section 125 determines that thedestination cannot be visited and does not permit display of thedestination at the time of display of the destination setting frame.

In this embodiment, the spot data includes weather informationindicating states sensitive/insensitive to weather as in indoorfacilities and outdoor facilities, as well as position information,genre information, available time information, recommended visit timeinformation and stay length information. The spot data is stored bybeing associated with position information on a map and names ofdestinations, as is that in the first embodiment.

This weather information indicates, for example, a condition in whichstudy and observation or an activity at a destination cannot beperformed, as in the case of suspension of an activity due to rainyweather, and a condition in which an activity cannot be performed at adestination if the temperature is high or low.

Operations in weather acquisition processing in the route guidanceprocess control section 125 in this embodiment will be described belowin detail.

The route guidance process management section 124 obtains weatherforecast information on destinations set in selected route data atpredetermined time intervals from a server apparatus selected as desiredthrough the communication section 114, when route guidance is performedon the basis of the selected route data. The route guidance processmanagement section 124 determines whether or not the destinations can bevisited on the basis of the obtained weather information or generatesredesign data by rearranging the destinations at such points in timethat the destinations can be visited. The route guidance processmanagement section 124 performs processing for generation of theredesign data as operating processing other than route guidance processmanagement processing in the first embodiment.

For example, in a case where a destination having weather informationindicating impossibility of visit under the condition that rainy weatheris registered in selected route data, the route guidance processmanagement section 124 obtains whether forecast information through thecommunication section 114 and determines the weather and the duration ofthe weather on the basis of the weather forecast information. If theexpected arrival time at the destination included in the selected routedata coincides with the duration of rainy weather or snowy weather, itnotifies the user of this condition and calls on the user to remove thedestination or change the destination with a different one. If acorresponding instruction is provided from the user, the route guidanceprocess management section 124 removes the destination or changes thedestination with a different one.

For example, in this embodiment, if the route guidance processmanagement section obtains weather forecast information including arainfall probability of 80% or higher, it determines that the weather atthe destination is rainy.

Operations in processing for weather management in the route guidanceprocess management section 124 of this embodiment will be describedbelow.

Description will now be made of operations in processing of weatherforecast information (hereinafter referred to as “weather acquisitionprocessing”) in the route guidance process control section 125 of thisembodiment with reference to FIG. 12.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing operations in weather acquisitionprocessing in this embodiment.

In this embodiment, operations described below are performed in a casewhere when the user sets a departure date/time, fellow passengers andrest places on the basis of display of the menu frame in setting startprocessing in the first embodiment, the user registers a destinationarea and the route guidance process control section 125 controls thedisplay control section 111 to display the selection frame for selectionof a destination.

When a departure date/time and a destination area is registered on thebasis of the main menu frame by the user (step S71), the route guidanceprocess control section 125 obtains weather forecast information on thedestination area on the departure date/time from a desired serverapparatus through the communication section 114 via a public telephonenetwork circuit or an Internet circuit (step S72).

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 determineswhether or not the weather information is information on rainy weatheror snowy weather including rainfall probability of 80% or higher (stepS73). If the weather is rainy or snowy weather and if the rainfallprobability is 80% or higher, the route guidance process control section125 makes the display section 109 display the destination setting framewithout permitting display of the destination (step S74). If the weatheris rainy or snowy weather and if the rainfall probability is lower than80%, the route guidance process control section 125 makes the displaysection 109 display the destination setting frame with the ordinary listcontents (step S75).

Thus, in this embodiment, the display at the time of registration ofdestination is controlled on the basis of weather information.Operations after control of display of the destination setting frame arethe same as those in the first embodiment.

Description will now be made of operations in processing for weathermanagement (hereinafter referred to as “weather management processing”)with reference to FIG. 13.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing operations in weather managementprocessing in this embodiment.

This processing is performed as operating processing different fromroute guidance process management processing in the first embodiment togenerate redesign data when route guidance process management processingis not performed.

If during route guidance the route guidance process control section 125detects a lapse of time set in advance (step S81), it obtains weatherforecast information on destinations set in selected route data from adesired server apparatus through the communication section 114 (stepS82).

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 notifiesthe user of the weather forecast information on the destinations throughthe display section 109 or the speaker 113 (step S83).

The operation in step S72 may alternatively be such that a setting madein advance is used instead of notification.

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process management section 124 determine, with respect toeach of the destinations in the selected route data, whether or not thedestination is non-visitable under the weather indicated by the obtainedweather forecast information in the spot data on the destination (stepS84).

More specifically, if a destination having such weather information thatthe destination cannot be visited under the condition that rainy weatheris registered in the selected data, the route guidance processmanagement section 124 obtains whether forecast information through thecommunication section 114, determines the weather and the duration ofthe weather on the basis of the weather forecast information, anddetermines whether or not the expected arrival time at the destinationincluded in the selected route data coincides with the duration of rainyweather or snowy weather (rainfall probability 80% or higher), asdescribed above.

If the route guidance process management section 124 determines that anydestination having such weather information that the destination cannotbe visited under the condition that rainy weather is not registered inthe selected data, the route guidance process control section 125terminates this processing.

If the route guidance process management section 124 determines that adestination having such weather information that the destination cannotbe visited under the condition that rainy weather is registered in theselected data, the route guidance process control section 125 notifiesthe user that the route guidance process will be changed through thedisplay section 109 or the speaker 113 (step S85).

More specifically, the route guidance process management section 124notifies selection as to whether the destination that cannot be visitedshould be removed or a new destination should be added in place of thedestination that cannot be visited.

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 determineswhether or not the user has selected change of the destination (stepS86). If the route guidance process control section 125 determines thatthe user has selected change of the destination, processing for changeto a new destination is performed (step S87).

More specifically, in this processing, one of the destinations stored inadvance as reserve destinations in the ROM/RAM 116 is selected and addedto the unvisited destinations, and the route guidance process generationsection 123 is controlled to generate design data, as in step S58 in thefirst embodiment.

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 notifiesthe user of the new redesign data and sets the new redesign data asselected route data (step S88), and controls the sections to performroute guidance on the basis of the selected route data, therebycompeting this process management processing.

If the route guidance process control section 125 determines that theuser has not selected change of the destination, it determines whetheror not the user has selected removal of the destination that cannot bevisited (step S89).

If the route guidance process control section 125 determines that theuser does no select removal of the destination, it terminates thisprocessing. If the route guidance process control section 125 determinesthat the user does no select removal of the destination, it performsprocessing for removing the destination, as in the case of the delayprocessing in the first embodiment, and continues route guidance processmanagement on the basis of the selected route from which the destinationhas been removed (step S90).

Thus, in this embodiment, the arrangement in which the display section109 and the speech processing circuit 112 notify weather forecastinformation, as in the case of the first embodiment, is provided.

In this arrangement, according to this embodiment, the display section109 and the speech processing circuit 112 can notify weather forecastinformation to provide the user with information on destinations whichwill be visited.

In this arrangement is also provided the arrangement that has the GPSreception section 101 and the sensor section 102 that obtain presentposition data indicating the present position of the vehicle duringroute guidance, the route guidance process control section 125 thatobtains, during route guidance, weather information on a destination setin route data, and route guidance process management section 124 thatregenerates data on a route from the obtained present position of thevehicle to an unvisited destination which is a destination set in theroute data but not yet visited, on the basis of the obtained weatherinformation on the destination and weather information obtained by thespot data extraction section 121. In this arrangement, the systemcontrol section 115 performs route guidance on the basis of thegenerated route data.

In this arrangement, according to this embodiment, a route data from thepresent position of the vehicle to an unvisited destination which is adestination set in the selected route data but not yet visited isregenerated on the basis of weather information on the destinationobtained by the route guidance process control section 125 and weatherinformation obtained by the spot data acquisition device, and routeguidance is performed on the basis of the regenerated selected routedata.

Thus, in this embodiment, regeneration of the selected route data can beperformed in a case where a destination registered in the selected routedata cannot be visited due to rainy weather or the like during routeguidance. Therefore, efficient route guidance can be achieved such thatthe actual weather route is considered while checking available timesand stay lengths.

In this arrangement is also provided the arrangement in which theregenerated route guidance process management section 124 determines, onthe basis of obtained weather forecast information on a destination andweather information on the destination obtained by the spot dataextraction section 121, at least one of addition of a destination to benewly set as an intermediate destination and removal of a destinationset in route data, and determines on the basis of the result of thisdetermination whether or not a route to an unvisited destination set inthe route data should be regenerated.

In this arrangement, according to this embodiment, removal of adestination where an activity cannot be performed when a visit to adestination is made and an activity cannot be performed in thedestination, and addition of a different destination where the activitycan be performed can be performed according to weather information onthe destination. Therefore, a visit to a destination according to user'sdemand can be ensured without changing the entire schedule based on theselected route data.

In this embodiment, each setting is made through the operating section106 in generation processing and process management processing. Thearrangement may alternatively be such that the speech recognitioncircuit 108 is used instead of the operating section 106 to makesettings and selections by means of speeches uttered by the user.

In this embodiment, in a case where destinations are registered as afinal destination and intermediate points when the route guidanceprocess generation section 123 generates design data for a routeguidance process, the route guidance process generation section 123 maygenerate design data by fixing only the final destination, or maygenerate design data on the basis of the above-described available timeand so on with respect to all destinations in a case where thedestinations are registered without fixing the final destination.

In this embodiment, the above-described navigation apparatus 100 or theroute guidance process generation section 123 and the route guidanceprocess management section 124 generate design data and redesign dataand perform guidance management and weather acquisition processing usingthe design data. However, the arrangement may be such that thenavigation apparatus 100 having map data and an information recordingmedium on which the map data is stored is provided with a computer and arecording medium, the above-mentioned route data generation program,management program and weather management processing program are storedon this recording medium, and the computer reads these control programsto perform the same weather management processing as that describedabove.

In this embodiment, a destination setting is made at the time of designdata generation processing by considering weather information. Adestination setting in generation processing may also be made on thebasis of fellow passengers participating in a drive to a destination andinformation on the genre of the destination.

In such a case, if fellow passengers are lovers, a husband and wife orthe like, and if such a couple visits destinations, a destinationrecommended as a place to visit for couples, e.g., a park where abeautiful night view can be enjoyed or a restaurant is set withpriority. If fellow passengers are family members or the like, anamusement facilities spot such as a pleasure park is set with priority.More specifically, a determination is made in the above-described stepS73 as to whether or not a destination is suitable for registered fellowpassengers on the basis of genre information. If it is determined thatthe destination is suitable, the destination is displayed.

In this embodiment, the navigation apparatus of the present invention isapplied to a navigation apparatus mounted on a vehicle. Needless to say,the functions in the system control sections 115, i.e., those of the mapdata extraction section 121, the route search section 122, the routeguidance process generation section 123, the route guidance processmanagement section 124 and the route guidance process control section125, may be provided in a server apparatus installed in any place, andcommunication between the server apparatus and a terminal apparatusmounted on a vehicle may be performed via a communication circuit suchas telephone public network lines and an Internet circuit to performweather acquisition processing.

In such a case, the server apparatus stores various sorts of datanecessary for weather acquisition processing for each of vehicles toperform weather acquisition processing, and the terminal apparatus has acommunication section for communication with the server apparatus. Theterminal apparatus transmits various sorts of data registered through anoperating section, and also transmits and receives design data andcontrol data for control of route guidance.

While in this embodiment the navigation apparatus of the presentinvention is applied to a navigation apparatus mounted on a vehicle, itmay be applied to a portable terminal device for pedestrians.

In such a case, information on the present position of the portableterminal device may be obtained not by the GPS reception sensor 101 andthe sensor section 102 but by a present position acquisition section inthe portable terminal device, which obtains the information by means ofradio waves for communication.

Third Embodiment

Description will be made of a third embodiment of the navigationapparatus according to the present invention with reference to FIG. 14.

A feature of this embodiment resides in that, in addition to generationof design data based on spot data on registered destinations and routeguidance management in the first embodiment, a user is called on toconsider a rest time and a rest place during route guidance. In otherrespects, the arrangement is the same as that of the first embodiment.The same components are indicated by the same reference numerals anddescription for the same components will not be repeated.

Description will first be made of the route guidance process controlsection 125 of this embodiment.

The route guidance process control section 125 enables the user toregister rest time intervals and the genre of a rest place when the usersets a departure date/time, fellow passengers and rest places on thebasis of display of a menu frame in the setting start processing in thefirst embodiment in position to the operation in the first embodiment.The route guidance process control section 125 stores the registeredrest time intervals and the registered rest place genres in the ROM/RAM116.

When route guidance is performed on the basis of selected route data,the route guidance process control section 125 calls on the user to takea rest and notifies the user of a rest place through the display section109 or the speech processing circuit 112 on the basis of the registerrest time intervals and rest place genre information registered at thetime of setting start processing.

More specifically, the route guidance process control section 125detects, on the basis of a departure time, a continuous travel timeduring which route guidance is continuously performed. After a lapse ofa certain time period set in advance as the continuous travel time, theroute guidance process control section 125 displays information that atime to take a rest has come and simultaneously displays a rest placeset at the time of setting start processing or a destination belongingto a genre set as a rest place.

When the route guidance process control section 125 displays adestination belonging to a genre set as a rest place at the time ofsetting start processing, it notifies a destination which exists on theroute on selected route data in the direction of travel of the vehicle,which is closest to the vehicle position, and which belongs to a setgenre.

Further, the route guidance process control section 125 determines thekind of a road on which the vehicle travels, i.e., one of various kindssuch as “highway” and “ordinary road”, and notifies a rest place on thebasis of selection from kinds of road.

More specifically, if the route guidance process control section 125determines that the kind of a road on which the vehicle travels is“ordinary road”, it notifies a rest place as described above. However,in a case where the kind of a road on which the vehicle is traveling isdetermined as “highway”, a temporary stay at a destination which belongsto a certain rest place genre cannot be made even if the genre isregistered in advance by the user at the time of setting startprocessing. In this case, therefore, the route guidance process controlsection 125 displays a service area (SA) or a parking area (PA)regardless of any genre set at the time of setting start processing.

In this embodiment, however, the route guidance process control section125 does not display a service area (SA) or a parking area (PA) as arest place in a case where a travel of the vehicle on an ordinary roadin a certain time period set in advance is expected. In such a case, theroute guidance process control section 125 displays the genre of a restplace set at the time of setting start processing and notifies necessaryinformation.

Description will now be made of operations in processing for restnotification (hereinafter referred to as “rest notification processing”)in the route guidance process control section 125 of this embodimentwith reference to FIG. 14.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing operations in the rest notificationprocessing of this embodiment.

For example, rest time intervals of two hours and a rest place genre“convenience store” are set in this processing.

When the route guidance process control section 125 initiates routeguidance, it simultaneously starts measuring the continuous travel time.When the route guidance process control section 125 detects a lapse oftwo hours while continuously performing route guidance (step S91), itdetermines whether or not the time required to travel to the nextdestination is equal to or longer than a certain time period (step S92).

More specifically, the route guidance process control section 125computes a time expected as the time required for travel to the nextdestination on the basis of an expected arrival time at the nextdestination and the present time, and determines whether or not thecomputed required time is equal to or longer than the certain timeperiod.

For example, in this embodiment, the route guidance process controlsection 125 determines whether or not the time required for travel tothe next destination is expected to be 45 minutes or longer.

If the route guidance process control section 125 determines that thetime required for travel to the next destination is not equal to orlonger than the certain time, that is, it is shorter than the certaintime, the route guidance process control section 125 makes a move toprocessing in step S91. If the route guidance process control section125 determines that the time required for travel to the next destinationis equal to or longer than the certain time, it obtains data on thepresent position of the vehicle obtained by the GPS reception section101 and the sensor section 102 and map data (step S93).

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 determinesthe kind of the road on which the vehicle is traveling on the basis ofthe data on the present vehicle position and the map data (step S94).

More specifically, in this embodiment, the route guidance processcontrol section 125 determines whether or not the road on which thevehicle is traveling is a highway.

Subsequently, if the route guidance process control section 125determines that the road on which the vehicle is traveling is not ahighway but an ordinary road, it displays information that a time totake a rest has come, notifies a destination which exists on the routeon the selected route data in the direction of travel of the vehicle,which is closest to the vehicle position, and which belongs to the setgenre, on the basis of the rest place genre stored in the ROM/RAM 116,and initiates route guidance to the notified destination (step S95).

If the route guidance process control section 125 determines that theroad on which the vehicle is traveling is a highway, it computes thetime period before a time at which the vehicle will start traveling onan ordinary load on the basis of the selected route data (step S96).

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 determineswhether or not the time period before a time at which the vehicle willstart traveling on an ordinary load is within a time period set inadvance, e.g., 30 minutes (step S97). If the route guidance processcontrol section 125 determines that the time period before a time atwhich the vehicle will start traveling on an ordinary load is equal toor longer than the time period set in advance, it displays informationthat a time to take a rest has come, notifies a service area or aparking area which the vehicle is supposed to pass next, and initiatesroute guidance to the notified service area or parking area (step S98).

If the route guidance process control section 125 determines that thetime period before a time at which the vehicle will start traveling onan ordinary load is within the time period set in advance, it notifies,after traveling the ordinary road through a certain distance or for acertain time period, a destination which exists on the route on theselected route data in the direction of travel of the vehicle, which isclosest to the vehicle position, and which belongs to the set genre, andinitiates route guidance to the notified destination (step S99).

Thus, the arrangement in this embodiment is provided with the GPSreception section 101 and the sensor section 102 that obtain presentposition data indicating the present position of the vehicle duringroute guidance performed on the basis of route data generated by thesystem control section 115, the route guidance process control section125 that, during route guidance, computes a continuous vehicle traveltime during which the vehicle travels continuously, and detects as thecomputed continuous vehicle travel time a lapse of a certain time periodset in advance, and the display section 109 and the speech processingcircuit 112 that presents a new destination set in advance when theroute guidance process control circuit 125 detects a lapse of the timeperiod set in advance as the continuous vehicle travel time. In thisarrangement, the system control circuit 115 performs route guidance onthe basis of route data generated by the route guidance processgeneration section 123 and the presented destination.

In this arrangement, according to this embodiment, when a lapse of thetime period set in advance is detected as the continuous vehicle traveltime during route guidance, a new destination such as a rest place ispresented and route guidance on unvisited destinations and the presentednew destination is performed.

Thus, it is not necessary to set a rest place in advance. Therefore, thenavigation apparatus 100 can be provided as a navigation apparatuscapable of being easily used without requiring the user to perform anytroublesome operation.

The arrangement in this embodiment is also provided with the routeguidance process control section 125 that identifies the kind of atravel road on which the vehicle travels on the basis of the presentvehicle position obtained by the GPS reception section 101 and thesensor section 102 and map data stored in the map data storage device105. In this arrangement, the display section 109 and the speechprocessing circuit 112 presents a new destination set in advance on thebasis of the kind of the travel road identified and a lapse of a certaintime period set in advance as the continuous vehicle travel timedetected.

Thus, if selection from rest places is made on the basis of a travelroad on which the vehicle travels, a rest place can be presented even inthe case of travel on a highway for example, where a rest place set inadvance cannot be presented. Therefore, the navigation apparatus 100 canbe provided as a navigation apparatus capable of being easily usedwithout requiring the user to perform any troublesome operation.

In this embodiment, the route guidance process control section 125notifies a rest time and a rest place on the basis of a lapse of time interms of continuous travel time from the beginning of route guidance. Ina case where no place to have a meal is set in selected route data,however, a place to have a meal may be notified by obtaining the presenttime and route guidance to the place to have a meal may be performed.

In such a case, the route guidance process control section 125 allowsthe user to set a time to have a meal and the genre of a place to have ameal in advance at the time of setting start processing.

In this embodiment, the route guidance process management section 124determines whether or not the vehicle exists in a certain distance rangefrom a destination set in selected route data on the basis ofinformation on the vehicle position obtained by the GPS receptionsection 101 or the sensor section 102 and map data stored in the mapdata storage section 105. When the route guidance process managementsection 124 determines that the vehicle exists in the certain distancerange from the destination, it notifies introduction information forintroducing points worthy of note at the destination into spot data.

In this embodiment, each setting is made through the operating section106 in generation processing and process management processing. Thearrangement may alternatively be such that the speech recognitioncircuit 108 is used instead of the operating section 106 to makesettings and selections by means of speeches uttered by the user.

In this embodiment, in a case where destinations are registered as afinal destination and intermediate points when the route guidanceprocess generation section 123 generates design data for a routeguidance process, the route guidance process generation section 123 maygenerate design data by fixing only the final destination, or maygenerate design data on the basis of the above-described available timeand so on with respect to all destinations in a case where thedestinations are registered without fixing the final destination.

In this embodiment, the above-described navigation apparatus 100, i.e.,the route guidance process generation section 123 and the route guidanceprocess management section 124, generate design data and redesign dataand perform guidance management using the design data. However, thearrangement may be such that the navigation apparatus 100 having mapdata and an information recording medium on which the map data is storedis provided with a computer and a recording medium, the above-mentionedroute data rest notification program is stored on this recording medium,and the computer reads the control program to perform the same restnotification processing as that described above.

Fourth Embodiment

Description will be made of a fourth embodiment of the navigationapparatus according to the present invention with reference FIGS. 15 to18.

A feature of this embodiment resides in that, at the time of generationof design data in the first embodiment, a position in visit order for adestination matching a certain condition is determined and positions invisit order for other destinations are determined on the basis of thedestination having the determined position in visit order to generatethe design data.

In the first embodiment, design data is generated on the basis of adeparture time, stay length information and available time informationcontained in spot data on registered destinations.

However, if a large number of destinations are registered when designdata is generated by determining positions in visit order fordestinations and setting routes therebetween, the processing load isincreased and the time required before the completion of computation ofthe design data is considerably long in the first embodiment sinceroutes between two points on the destinations and the times required fortravel through the routes are computed and since the design data isgenerated on the basis of the results of this computation.

In particular, a plurality of routes are ordinarily supposed to existbetween two points on destinations. Therefore, the amount of processingon such routes is increased if the number of destinations is increased.For example, when the number of registered destinations is 10, thenumber of combinations obtained by permutation of routes between pairsof points on the destinations is 3628800. If design data is generatedfrom these combinations, the processing load is increased.

In this embodiment, positions in visit order for destinations having acondition set in advance are first determined and other destinations nothaving the condition are placed between the destinations placedaccording to the determined positions in visit order, thus generatingdesign data.

More specifically, in this embodiment, time periods respectivelysuitable for a visit to destinations (hereinafter referred to as“recommended visit time periods”) are stored in advance in the map datastorage section 105 as recommended visit time information in spot dataon the destinations. Matching/non-matching to the conditions of thedestinations are determined on the basis of the stay length informationor available time information to enable setting of positions in visitorder for the destinations and setting of routes and main departure andarrival times based on the positions in visit order.

For example, in this embodiment, when the route guidance processgeneration section 123 generates design data, it determines whether eachdestination has flexibility in setting a visit time or does not have theflexibility, for example, the destination is a place to have a meal orthe open hours of a store or the like are restricted within a visitsetting time period in spot data on the destination to determinematching/non-matching to the condition of each destination.

In other respects, the arrangement is the same as that of the firstembodiment. The same components are indicated by the same referencenumerals and description for the same components will not be repeated.

Description will now be made of the route guidance process generationsection 123 in this embodiment with reference to FIG. 15.

FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining setting of prior placed spot dataand posteriorly placed spot data.

When spot data on destinations extracted by the spot data extractionsection 121 is input, the route guidance process generation section 123of this embodiment determines whether each input spot data group is spotdata for which a position in visit order should be set earlier(hereinafter referred to as “prior placed spot data”) or spot data forwhich a position in visit order should be set later (hereinafterreferred to as “posteriorly placed spot data”).

That is, the route guidance process generation section 123 performsdesign data generation processing (hereinafter referred to as “priorplacement generation processing”) setting each destination representedby prior placed spot data as a destination for which a position in visitorder should be determined earlier and setting each destinationrepresented by posteriorly placed spot data as a destination for which aposition in visit order should be determined later.

More specifically, the route guidance process generation section 123sets spot data having a condition set in advance among spot data havingrecommended visit time information as prior placed spot data, and spotdata not having the condition set in advance as posteriorly placed spotdata.

Also, in principle, the route guidance process generation section 123sets spot data including no recommended visit time information inadvance as posteriorly placed spot data.

When destinations are registered in setting start processing, the usermay set a recommended visit time for each destination, and this setinformation may be used as recommended visit time information in spotdata on the destination. In such a case, in this embodiment, processingis performed by assuming that recommended visit time information isincluded in spot data on registered destinations. In this embodiment,however, in a case where recommended visit time information isregistered by the user, 24 hours in one day are set in time periods eachconsisting of several hours, for example, “early morning”, “breakfasttime”, “forenoon”, “lunch time”, “afternoon”, “light evening”, “eveningmeal time”, “after evening meal” and “midnight”, and one time period ora group of a plurality of successive time periods among them is set, ora time period such as 10 to 12 is directly set.

More specifically, in this embodiment, the route guidance processgeneration section 123 subtracts a stay length indicated by stay lengthinformation in spot data or stay time set from genre information from anavailable time such as open hours indicated by available timeinformation, in each spot data group having recommended visit timeinformation, as shown in FIG. 15, and determines whether or not theresult of the subtraction is equal to or shorter than a time period setin advance, thereby determining whether the spot data is prior placedspot data or posteriorly placed spot data.

That is, if the result of the subtraction is equal to or shorter thanthe time period set in advance, the route guidance process generationsection 123 sets the spot data as prior placed spot data, and sets theother spot data groups including those having no recommended visit timeinformation as posteriorly placed spot data.

The route guidance process generation section 123 determines a positionin visit order for prior placed spot data on the basis of a use starttime indicated by available time information in spot data.

For example, in this embodiment, the route guidance process generationsection 123 determines positions in visit order for prior placed spotdata in order from the most preceding use start time. If prior placedspot data groups having the same use start time exist, the routeguidance process generation section 123 determines positions in visitorder for the prior placed spot data groups in order from the mostpreceding use end time indicated by available time information.

That is, in this embodiment, when the route guidance process generationsection 123 determines positions in visit order for prior placed spotdata, it arranges the prior placed spot data in design data whilereferring to stay length information so that the arrival time or thedeparture time in each prior placed spot data group is within theavailable time.

The route guidance process generation section 123 does not set anarrival time before the use start time of each prior placed spot datagroup, and does not set a departure time after the use end time of eachprior placed spot data group.

In this embodiment, determination is made as to whether or not designdata can be generated even when the positions in visit order of priorplaced spot data are recombined. If another design data group can begenerated, the design data is generated on the basis of the positions invisit order of the prior placed spot data.

The route guidance process generation section 123 determines positionsin visit order for posteriorly placed spot data on the basis of thepositions in visit order of the prior placed spot data to form thedesign data.

For example, the route guidance process generation section 123determines positions in visit order for posteriorly placed spot datagroups in design data in which positions in visit order for prior placedspot data groups have been determined, on the basis of available timeinformation and stay length information in the posteriorly placed spotdata groups, determines whether or not the design data can be formedeven after the posteriorly placed spot data groups have been placed,that is, whether or not a visit can made to each destination in time,and forms the design data.

That is, in this embodiment, the route guidance process generationsection 123 determines whether or not a posteriorly placed spot datagroup can be placed between a prior placed spot data group of a higherposition in visit order and another prior placed spot data group of thenext position in visit order.

More specifically, in this embodiment, the route guidance processgeneration section 123 computes a departure time in a prior placed spotdata group next in rank (hereinafter referred to as “next placed spotdata”) on the basis of a departure time from a departure pointregistered in setting start processing or a departure time in theimmediately fore placed spot data set in advance (hereinafter referredto as “immediately fore placed spot data”), computes the time requiredfor travel to the point corresponding to the next prior placed spot dataand an arrival time in the next placed spot data, and determines whetheror not the computed arrival time is before the available time in thisprior placed spot data.

If the computed arrival time is before the available time in this priorplaced spot data, the route guidance process generation section 123determines whether or not posteriorly placed spot data can be placed onthe basis of routes between the posteriorly placed spot data and theprior placed spot data which is placed as the posteriorly placed spotdata, the required times thereof, available time information and staylength information on the posteriorly placed spot data. If theposteriorly placed spot data can be placed, that is, a visit to the nextplaced spot data can be made in time even after the posteriorly placedspot data has been placed, the route guidance process generation section123 places the posteriorly placed spot data.

In this embodiment, in the case where the posteriorly placed spot datais placed between the immediately fore placed spot data and the nextplaced spot data, the route guidance process generation section 123further determines whether or not other posteriorly placed spot data canbe placed between the posteriorly placed spot data placed before and thenext placed spot data. If the other posteriorly placed spot data can beplaced, routes and so on are computed and the posteriorly placed spotdata is placed to form design data, as described above.

The route guidance process generation section 123 is thus arranged togenerate design data, and to generate a plurality of design data groupsby changing the positions in visit order of prior placed spot data.

For example, the route guidance process generation section 123 in thisembodiment constitutes a classification device, a visit order settingdevice, a route data generation device, a subtraction device, acomparison device and a destination group classification device of thepresent invention.

Description will now be made of operations in design data generationprocessing in this embodiment with reference to FIGS. 16 and 17.

FIGS. 16 and 17 are flowcharts showing operations in generationprocessing of this embodiment.

The same processings as those in the first embodiment are indicated bythe same reference numerals. Twenty design data groups are computed inthe route guidance process generation section 123, and setting startprocessing is completed before the processing described below, as in thecase of the description of the first embodiment.

When a user inputs an instruction to the route guidance process controlsection 125 to generate design data (step S11), the route guidanceprocess control section 125 makes the spot data extraction section 121extract spot data on destinations and stores information in the spotdata in the ROM/RAM 116 (step S12).

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process generation section 123 determine whether or notavailable time information is contained in each registered spot datagroup (step S13). If each spot data group contains available timeinformation, an advance to processing in the next step S15 is made.

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines that oneof the spot data groups contains no available time information, theroute guidance process control section 125 makes a setting such that theavailable time of the destination is 24 hours over 365 days and storesthis setting in the ROM/RAM 116 (step S14).

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process generation section 123 determine whether or notstay length information is contained in each registered spot data group(step S15). If each spot data group contains stay length information, anadvance to processing in the next step S200 is made.

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines that oneof the spot data groups contains no stay length information, the routeguidance process control section 125 obtains genre information on thedestination and sets an expected stay length set in advance with respectto the genre information as an expected length of stay at thedestination, and stores the expected stay length in the ROM/RAM 116(step S16).

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 makes adetermination as to whether the number of destinations registered insetting start processing, i.e., the number of spot data groups obtainedby the route guidance process generation section 123 is equal to anumber set in advance (step S200).

More specifically, if the route guidance process generation section 123obtains six or more spot data groups, the route guidance process controlsection 125 makes the route guidance process generation section 123perform prior placement processing (steps S201 to S214). If the routeguidance process generation section 123 obtains a number of spot datagroups smaller than six, the route guidance process control section 125makes the route guidance process generation section 123 perform theordinary design data generation processing, i.e., the same design datageneration processing as that in the first embodiment (steps S17 toS25).

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process generation section 123 generate at least onedesign data on a route extending via the destinations by combining thedeparture point, routes between pairs of points on the destinations andthe required times (step S17). Ordinary design data processing isthereby performed to form each design data group.

First, the route guidance process control section 125 makes the routeguidance process generation section 123 determine whether or not thearrival time and the departure time of one of the destinations in thegenerated design data are contained in the available time in the spotdata on the destination, on the basis of available time information onthe spot data on the destination in the generated design data (stepS18).

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines, withrespect to at least one of the destinations, that the arrival time andthe departure time are not contained in the available time in the spotdata on the destination, the route guidance process control section 125makes the route guidance process generation section 123 discard thegenerated design data (step S19) and makes a move to step S17 forgeneration of the next design data.

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines, withrespect each of the destinations in the generated design data, that thearrival time and the departure time are contained in the available timein the spot data on the destination, the route guidance process controlsection 125 makes the route guidance process generation section 123determine whether or not the arrival time and the departure time of thedestination having genre information indicating a place to have a mealare contained in a meal time period set in advance (step S20).

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines that thearrival time and the departure time of the destination that is a placeto have a meal in the generated design data are not contained themealtime period set in advance, the route guidance process controlsection 125 makes the route guidance process generation section 123discard the generated design data (step S21) and makes a move to stepS17 for generation of the next design data.

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines that thearrival time and the departure time of the destination that is a placeto have a meal in the generated design data are contained the meal timeperiod set in advance, the route guidance process control section 125makes the route guidance process generation section 123 compute a degreeof priority for the generated design data on the basis of recommendedvisit time information in the spot data on the destinations in thegenerated design data, as described above (steps S22, S23).

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process generation section 123 determine whether or notall the design date groups have been generated (step S24). If generationof all the design data groups is not completed, a move to processing instep S17 is made.

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines that allthe design date groups have been generated, the route guidance processcontrol section 125 makes the route guidance process generation section123 perform the above-described priority processing on the basis of thedegrees of priority (step S25), makes the display section 109 displaythe design data groups in descending order of priority (step S26), andterminates generation processing.

If in step S200 the route guidance process generation section 123obtains a number of spot data groups equal to or larger than six, theroute guidance process control section 125 makes the route guidanceprocess generation section 123 perform processing described below asprior placement processing.

The route guidance process control section 125 first makes the routeguidance process generation section 123 set each of the spot data groupsobtained by the data extraction section 121 as prior placed spot data asposteriorly placed spot data.

More specifically, the route guidance process generation section 123determines the existence/nonexistence of visit recommendationinformation in the spot data on the destinations registered at the timeof setting start processing, and sets the spot data having a conditionset in advance as prior placed spot data on the basis of available timeinformation and stay length information in the obtained spot data in thespot data having visit recommendation information.

The route guidance process generation section 123 sets as posteriorlyplaced spot data the spot data having no recommended visit timeinformation and the spot data not having the condition set advance.

In a case where the number of spot data groups obtained by the routeguidance process generation section 123 is equal to the number set inadvance, operations described below are performed.

The route guidance process control section 125 first makes the routeguidance process generation section 123 determine the order of placementof prior placed spot data groups on the basis of the spot data set inthe prior placed spot data groups (step S201).

More specifically, the route guidance process generation section 123determines the placement order in order from the most preceding usestart time in available time on the basis of available time informationon the spot data.

If some of the spot date groups have the same use start time, the routeguidance process generation section 123 determines the placement orderfrom the most preceding use end time in service end times or the like.When the route guidance process generation section 123 performs the sameprocessing next time or later, it determines a visit order of acombination of the prior placed spot data groups different from thevisit order of the combination of prior placed spot data items alreadydetermined.

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process generation section 123 execute placementprocessing for placing posteriorly placed spot data groups between theprior placed spot data groups in order from the prior placed spot datagroup placed at the top on the basis of the order of placement of theprior placed spot data groups, as described below.

The route guidance process control section 125 first makes the routeguidance process generation section 123 determine whether or not aposteriorly placed spot data group can be placed between the immediatelyfore placed spot data group and the next prior placed spot data group(step S202).

More specifically, the route guidance process generation section 123computes an arrival time in the next placed spot data by combining aroute between two points at the positions of the departure point or theimmediately fore prior placed spot data and the next placed spot dataand the required time therebetween, and determines whether or not thecomputed arrival time is before the use start time in the next placedspot data.

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines that theposteriorly placed spot data cannot be placed between the immediatelyfore prior placed spot data and the next placed spot data, the routeguidance process control section 125 makes the route guidance processgeneration section 123 determine whether or not a stay at the nextplaced spot data is possible (step S203).

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines that astay at the next placed spot data is possible, the route guidanceprocess control section 125 makes an advance to processing in step S207.If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines that astay at the next placed spot data is not possible, the route guidanceprocess control section 125 makes a move to processing in step S214.

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines that theposteriorly placed spot data can be placed between the immediately foreprior placed spot data and the next placed spot data, the route guidanceprocess control section 125 makes the route guidance process generationsection 123 perform posteriorly placed spot data selection processing(step S204). In this posteriorly placed spot data selection processing,the route guidance process generation section 123 determines theexistence/nonexistence of the selected posteriorly placed spot data(step S205).

Operations in posteriorly placed spot data selection processing in thisembodiment will be described below. In this selection processing, oneposteriorly placed spot data group is selected even if a plurality ofposteriorly placed spot data groups not placed yet exist.

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines inposteriorly placed spot data selection processing that any posteriorlyplaced spot data groups cannot be selected, the route guidance processcontrol section 125 makes an advance to processing in step S208.

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines inposteriorly placed spot data selection processing that a posteriorlyplaced spot data group can be selected, the route guidance processcontrol section 125 makes the route guidance process generation section123 determine whether or not posteriorly placed spot data can be placedbetween the next placed spot data and the selected posteriorly placedspot data (step S206), as in step S202.

More specifically, the route guidance process generation section 123computes an arrival time in the posteriorly placed spot data bycombining a route between two points at the positions of the next placedspot data and the selected posteriorly placed spot data and the requiredtime therebetween, and determines whether or not the computed arrivaltime is before the use start time.

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines that theanother posteriorly placed spot data group (hereinafter referred to as“posteriorly unplaced spot data”) can be placed between the next placedspot data and the selected posteriorly placed spot data, an advance toprocessing in step S205 is made. If the route guidance processgeneration section 123 determines that the posteriorly unplaced spotdata group cannot be placed between the next placed spot data and theselected posteriorly placed spot data, an advance to processing in stepS208 is made.

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process generation section 123 compute a route from thedeparture point or immediately fore next placed spot data to the nextplaced spot data. If posteriorly placed spot data has been selected, theroute guidance process generation section 123 computes a correspondingroute via the posteriorly placed spot data (step S207).

At this time, the route guidance process generation section 123 computesnot only the route but also the spot data, i.e., the arrival time andthe departure time of the destination.

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process generation section 123 determine theexistence/nonexistence of prior placed spot data subsequent in visitorder to the next placed spot data (step S208). If the route guidanceprocess generation section 123 detects prior placed spot data subsequentin visit order, a move to processing in step S202 is made to performprocessing including placement of posteriorly placed spot data. If theroute guidance process generation section 123 detects no prior placedspot data subsequent in visit order, the route guidance process controlsection 125 determines that all the prior placed placement data has beenplaced as set data and makes an advance to step S209.

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process generation section 123 determine theexistence/nonexistence of posteriorly unplaced spot data not yet placedin the design data (step S209).

If the route guidance process generation section 123 detects no unplacedspot data, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process generation section 123 determineidentity/non-identity to design data already generated (step S210).

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines identityto design data already generated, the route guidance process controlsection 125 makes move to processing to step S214.

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determinesnon-identity to design data already generated, the route guidanceprocess control section 125 holds the generated design data (step S211)and makes a move to processing in step S201 to generate new design data.

In the case where the route guidance process generation section 123determines identity to design data already generated, processing in stepS201 and processing in step S227 described below are unified, so that itcan be determined that no further new data can be generated. The routeguidance process control section 125 then makes a move to step S214 todisplay the held design data.

If the route guidance process generation section 123 detects unplacedspot data, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process generation section 123 perform posteriorly placedspot data selection processing (step S212), as in step S204, anddetermine the existence/nonexistence of the selected posteriorly placedspot data in posteriorly placed spot data selection processing (stepS213).

In step S212, the route guidance process generation section 123performs, in principle, posteriorly placed spot data selectionprocessing between the immediately fore prior placed spot data and thedetected unplaced spot data. If two or more posteriorly placed spot datagroups are incorporated after the prior placed spot data finally placedin placement order, the route guidance process generation section 123performs posteriorly placed spot data selection processing between theposteriorly placed spot data finally incorporated and the detectedposteriorly placed spot data.

Operations in posteriorly placed spot data selection processing in thisembodiment will be described below.

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines that oneposteriorly placed spot data group can be selected in posteriorly placedspot data selection processing, the route guidance process controlsection 125 makes a move to step S209.

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines that anyone posteriorly placed spot data group cannot be selected in posteriorlyplaced spot data selection processing, a move to processing in step S214is made.

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 arrangesthe generated design data in the order of generation (step S214), makesa move to step S26 and thereafter terminates the processing.

When the design data is displayed on the display section 109 in stepS26, the design data is displayed in the order of generation, as in thecase of the first embodiment. However, in a case where no design datacan be generated, the system control section 115 displays informationthat no design data can be generated, and spot data with a problem atthe time of generation, in the design data first generated, as shownwith respect to the first embodiment.

Thus, in this embodiment, design data is generated. When generateddesign data is provided or when, in the case of generation of aplurality of design groups, one of them is selected as in the firstembodiment, actual route guidance based on the selected design data,i.e., selected data, is performed and route guidance managementprocessing is executed.

Description will now be made of operations in posteriorly placed spotdata selection processing in this embodiment with reference to FIG. 18.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing operations in posteriorly placed spotdata selection processing.

Operations in this processing are performed in step S204 or step S212 ofdesign data generation processing.

First, the route guidance process control circuit 125 makes the routeguidance process generation section 123 compute a route between theimmediately fore placed spot data or immediately preceding posteriorplaced spot data (hereinafter referred to also as “immediately foreplaced spot data”) in a case where posteriorly placed spot dataselection processing has already been performed once (step S212) and oneof posteriorily unplaced spot data groups not yet placed, and compute anarrival time and a departure time in the posteriorily unplaced spot dataon the basis of a stay length set according to stay length informationin the posteriorily unplaced spot data or genre information (step S221).

More specifically, as described above, the route guidance processgeneration section 123 computes a route between two points at thepositions of the spot data groups and the required time therebetween andcomputers an arrival time in the posteriorily unplaced spot data on thebasis of the departure time in the immediately fore placed spot data.The route guidance process generation section 123 also computes adeparture time in the posteriorily unplaced spot data on the basis ofthe computed arrival time and the stay length.

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process generation section 123 determine whether or notthe posteriorily unplaced spot data has a predetermined condition on thebasis of the arrival time and the departure time in the posteriorilyunplaced spot data (step S222).

More specifically, in the case of step S204, the route guidance processgeneration section 123 determines whether or not the arrival time andthe departure time in the posteriorily unplaced spot data are containedin the available time in the posteriorily unplaced spot data, and alsodetermines whether or not the posteriorily unplaced spot data can beplaced between the unplaced spot data and the next fore placed spotdata, as it does in step S202.

In the case of step S212, the route guidance process generation section123 only determines whether or not the arrival time and the departuretime in the posteriorily unplaced spot data are contained in theavailable time in the posteriorily unplaced spot data.

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines that anyof the posteriorily unplaced spot data groups does not have thepredetermined condition, the route guidance process control section 125determines that there is no matching posteriorily unplaced spot data(step S223), and terminates this processing.

If the route guidance process generation section 123 determines that atleast one of the posteriorily unplaced spot data groups has thepredetermined condition, the route guidance process control section 125makes the route guidance process generation section 123 detect theposteriorily unplaced spot data groups having an available time equal toor sorter than a threshold value (step S224).

Subsequently, the route guidance process control section 125 makes theroute guidance process generation section 123 determine theexistence/nonexistence of the posteriorily unplaced spot data groupshaving an available time equal to or sorter than the threshold value(step S225).

If the route guidance process generation section 123 detects theposteriorily unplaced spot data groups having an available time equal toor sorter than the threshold value, the route guidance process controlsection 125 makes the route guidance process generation section 123 setthe posteriorily unplaced spot data group having the shortest remainingavailable time in the detected posteriorily unplaced spot data groups asa selected posteriorily unplaced spot data group (step S226), andterminates this processing.

If the route guidance process generation section 123 detects noposteriorily unplaced spot data group having an available time equal toor sorter than the threshold value, the route guidance process controlsection 125 makes the route guidance process generation section 123 setthe posteriorily unplaced spot data group having an arrival time withinthe available time in the detected posteriorily unplaced spot datagroups as a selected posteriorily unplaced spot data group (step S227),and terminates this processing.

More specifically, in step S227, the route guidance process generationprocess 123 counts the number of times processing in step S227 isperformed in correspondence with processing in step S204 and S212 whenone design data group is generated in generation processing, and setsposteriorily unplaced spot data groups on the basis of the number oftimes the processing is performed and the number of groups of data heldfor the present design data.

For example, when no design is set, that is, the number of held designdata groups is “0”, the route guidance process generation section 123selects the posteriorily unplaced spot data group forming the shortestroute in the detected posteriorily unplaced spot data groups each havingan arrival time contained in an available time, regardless of the numberof times the processing is performed.

When the number of held design data groups is “1”, the route guidanceprocess generation section 123 selects the spot data group forming thesecond shortest route only when the number of times the processing isperformed is 1, and selects the spot data group forming the shortestroute with respect to any other number indicating the number of timesthe processing is performed.

Further, when the number of held design data groups is “2”, the routeguidance process generation section 123 selects the spot data groupforming the second shortest route only when the number of times theprocessing is performed is 1 or 2, and selects the spot data groupforming the shortest route with respect to any other number indicatingthe number of times the processing is performed.

Thus, the arrangement in this embodiment is provided, so that the routeguidance process generation section 123 classifies the destinations intoprior placed spot data groups presenting some of the destinations whosepositions in visit order are to be first determined, and posteriorlyplaced spot data groups representing the other destinations, on thebasis of stay length information and available time information in thespot data groups, sets positions in visit order for the classified priorplaced spot data groups, and generates data on a route from a departurepoint to one of the destinations including at least an expected arrivaltime at the destination, on the basis of the set positions in visitorder of the prior placed spot data groups, obtained data on thelocation of the departure point, spot data on the registereddestinations and map data, in a case where a plurality of destinationsare registered by means of the operating section 106.

In this arrangement, according to this embodiment, data on a route froma departure point to one of the destinations including at least anexpected arrival time at the destination is generated on the basis ofthe set positions in visit order of the prior placed spot data groups,obtained data on the location of the departure point, spot data on theregistered destinations and map data.

Therefore, when design data is generated by determining the order inwhich the destinations are visited and setting a route for visiting thedestinations, route data can be generated while fixing the positions invisit order of some of the destinations where the available time such asservice time is so short that the visit order cannot be suitablydetermined, even if the number of destinations to be registered islarge. Consequently, the processing load can be reduced with respect togeneration of route data, and the time required for processing beforethe completion of generation of the route data can be reduced.

The arrangement in this embodiment is also provided, so that the routeguidance process generation section 123 subtracts a stay lengthindicated by stay length information from an available time indicated byavailable time information, compares the time obtained by thissubtraction with a value set in advance, and classification into priorplaced spot data and posteriorly placed spot data on the basis of theresult of this comparison.

In this arrangement, according to this embodiment, the stay length issubtracted from the available time, the time obtained by thissubtraction is compared with a value set in advance, and classificationinto prior placed spot data and posteriorly placed spot data isperformed on the basis of the result of this comparison.

Therefore, when design data is generated by determining the order inwhich the destinations are visited and setting a route for visiting thedestinations, the positions in visit order of some of the destinationswhere the available time such as service time is so short that the visitorder cannot be suitably determined can be set as prior placed spotdata, i.e., destinations whose positions in visit order are first fixed.

The arrangement in this embodiment is also provided, so that the routeguidance process generation section 123 generates data on a route from adeparture point to one of destinations including at least an expectedarrival time at the destination, on the basis of available timeinformation and stay length information on the destinations and the setpositions of prior placed spot data groups in visit order, while settingthe positions of posteriorly placed spot data groups.

In this arrangement, according to this embodiment, data on a route froma departure point to one of destinations including at least an expectedarrival time at the destination is generated on the basis of availabletime information and stay length information on the destinations and theset positions of prior placed spot data groups in visit order, whilesetting the positions of posteriorly placed spot data groups.

Therefore, some of the destinations where the available time such asservice time is so short that the visit order cannot be suitablydetermined can be considered, and posteriorly placed spot data groupshaving positions in visit order which can be determined as desired canbe incorporated in an arrangement of prior placed spot data groupshaving fixed positions in visit order. Consequently, the processing loadcan be reduced with respect to generation of route data, the timerequired for processing before the completion of generation of the routedata can be reduced, and the destinations suitably registered can bereflected in design data.

Also in this embodiment, each setting is made through the operatingsection 106 in generation processing and process management processing.

However, the speech recognition circuit 108 may be used instead of theoperating section 106 to make settings and selections by means ofspeeches uttered by the user.

In this embodiment, in a case where destinations are registered as afinal destination and intermediate points when the route guidanceprocess generation section 123 generates design data for a routeguidance process, the route guidance process generation section 123 maygenerate design data by fixing only the final destination, or maygenerate design data on the basis of the above-described available timeand so on with respect to all destinations in a case where thedestinations are registered without fixing the final destination.

In this embodiment, the above-described navigation apparatus 100, or theroute guidance process generation section 123 and the route guidanceprocess management section 124 generate design data and redesign dataand perform guidance management using the design data. However, thearrangement may be such that the navigation apparatus 100 having mapdata and an information recording medium on which the map data is storedis provided with a computer and a recording medium, the above-mentionedroute data generation program and management program are stored on thisrecording medium, and the computer reads these control programs toperform the same generation processing and management processing asthose described above.

In this embodiment, the navigation apparatus of the present invention isapplied to a navigation apparatus mounted on a vehicle. Needless to say,the functions in the system control sections 115, i.e., those of the mapdata extraction section 121, the route search section 122, the routeguidance process generation section 123, the route guidance processmanagement section 124, the route guidance process control section 125,may be provided in a server apparatus installed in any place,communication between the server apparatus and a terminal apparatusmounted on a vehicle may be performed via a communication circuit suchas an Internet circuit, and the server apparatus may perform generationprocessing.

In such a case, the server apparatus stores various sorts of dataincluding design data necessary for generation processing for each ofvehicles, and the terminal apparatus has a communication section forcommunication with the server apparatus. The terminal apparatustransmits various sorts of data registered through an operating section,and also transmits and receives design data and control data for controlof route guidance to perform generation processing.

While in this embodiment the navigation apparatus of the presentinvention is applied to a navigation apparatus mounted on a vehicle, itmay be applied to a portable terminal device for pedestrians.

In such a case, information on the present position of the portableterminal device may be obtained not by the GPS reception sensor 101 andthe sensor section 102 but by a present position acquisition section inthe portable terminal device, which obtains the information by means ofradio waves for communication.

1-36. (canceled)
 37. A navigation apparatus comprising: a departurepoint data acquisition device which obtains departure point dataincluding at least location data of a departure point from which amobile unit departs; a registration device which registers a destinationto be reached by the mobile unit; a spot data acquisition device whichobtains spot data on the registered destination including at leastlocation data indicating the location of the destination, stay lengthinformation representing information on an expected stay length at thedestination and available time information indicating available datesand times of the destination; a storage device which stores map data; ageneration device which generates route data from the departure point tothe destination including at least an expected arrival time at thedestination on the basis of the obtained departure point data, the spotdata on the registered destination and the map data; and a routeguidance device which performs route guidance from the departure pointto the destination on the basis of the generated route data.
 38. Thenavigation apparatus according to claim 37, wherein, in a case where aplurality of destinations are registered by said registration device,said generation device generates the route data on a route extendingfrom the departure point to one destination to another in thedestinations.
 39. The navigation apparatus according to claim 37,further comprising a notification device which notifies at least one ofdestination information representing information on the destinationincluding at least the expected arrival time at the destination in theroute data generated by said generation device, and the generated routedata.
 40. The navigation apparatus according to claim 39, wherein, in acase where the destination information includes at least one of a nameof the registered destination, an expected departure time indicating anexpected time of departure from the destination in the route data, and astay length representing an expected stay length at the destination inthe route data, said notification device notifies at least one ofinformation on the name of the destination, the expected arrival time,the expected departure time, and the stay length.
 41. The navigationapparatus according to claim 40, wherein, in a case where a plurality ofroute data are generated by said generation device, and where saidnotification device notifies the plurality of the generated route data,said navigation apparatus comprises: a selection device which selectsone of the plurality of the notified route data; and said route guidancedevice performs the route guidance from the departure point to thedestination on the basis of the selected route data.
 42. The navigationapparatus according to claim 39, wherein said generation devicecomprises: a required time computation device which computes requiredtime required for the entire process according to the route data; and aroute generation device which generates the route data on the basis ofthe computed route data required time.
 43. The navigation apparatusaccording to claim 37, wherein, in a case where said departure pointdata acquisition device obtains as departure point data a departure dateand time from the departure point and the location of the departurepoint, said generation device comprises: a search device which searchesroutes to the destination on the basis of the map data and the locationdata of the destination, and outputs at least one route as a searchresult; a determination device which determines whether or not a visitcan be made within the period of the available date and time of theregistered destination on the basis of the obtained departure pointdata, the output search result, the stay length information at thedestination and the available information of the destination; and a datageneration device which generates the route data from the departurepoint to the destination on the basis of the result of thedetermination.
 44. The navigation apparatus according to claim 43,further comprising said notification device, wherein, in a case wheresaid determination device determines that a visit to at least onedestination cannot be made on the basis of the stay length informationat the destination and the available time information of thedestination, said notification device notifies that the visit to atleast one destination cannot be made.
 45. The navigation apparatusaccording to claim 43, wherein said determination device comprises: anexpected time computation device which computes the expected arrivaltime and the expected departure time on the basis of the departure pointdata obtained by said departure point data acquisition device, thesearch results output from said search device and the stay lengthinformation at the destination obtained by said spot data acquisitiondevice; and an available time determination device which determineswhether or not the computed expected arrival time and the computedexpected departure time are contained in the available date and timeindicated by the available time information of the destination.
 46. Thenavigation apparatus according to claim 43, further comprising saidnotification device, wherein, in a case where said determination devicedetermines that a visit to at least one destination cannot be made onthe basis of the stay length information at the destination and theavailable time information of the destination, said determination devicecomprises: a stay length determination device which determines whetheror not the destination to which a visit cannot be made can be madevisitable by changing the stay length indicated by the stay lengthinformation at the destination; and a stay length change computationdevice which computes a change in stay length when it determines thatthe non-visitable destination can be visited if the stay length ischanged, and wherein said notification device notifies the computedchange in stay length to be made.
 47. The navigation apparatus accordingto claim 37, wherein said spot data acquisition device obtains genreinformation indicating a genre of the registered destination and obtainsthe stay length information at the registered destination on the basisof the obtained genre information.
 48. The navigation apparatusaccording to claim 37, further comprising a time setting device whichsets the stay length information in advance by associating the staylength information with the spot data, wherein said spot dataacquisition device obtains the set stay length information at the timeof obtaining the spot data.
 49. The navigation apparatus according toclaim 39, wherein, in a case where a plurality of route data aregenerated by said generation device, said generation device comprises apriority computation device which computes a priority for each of theroute data in relation to the others on the basis of the spot data onthe registered destination, and said notification device notifies one ofeach route data and the destination information in the route data on thebasis of the computed required times of the route data and the computedpriorities for the route data.
 50. The navigation apparatus according toclaim 49, wherein, in a case where the spot data includes at least oneof genre information indicating a genre of the destination and weatherinformation indicating whether or not a visit can be made according toweather of the destination, said priority computation device computesthe priority for each of the route data in relation to the others on thebasis of the spot data on the registered destination.
 51. The navigationapparatus according to claim 37, further comprising said notificationdevice, wherein, in a case where the spot data includes at least one ofgenre information indicating a genre of the destination and weatherinformation indicating whether or not a visit can be made according toweather of the destination, said notification device notifies at leastone of the genre information or the weather information on thedestination registered by said registration device, when the route datais generated by said generation device.
 52. The navigation apparatusaccording to claim 37, wherein, in a case where the route guidance isperformed by said route guidance device on the basis of the generatedroute data, said navigation apparatus comprises: a present positionacquisition device which obtains present position data indicating apresent position of the mobile unit while the route guidance isperformed; a predicted time computation device which computes, duringthe route guidance, a predicted arrival time at which arrival at theregistered destination will occur, on the basis of the obtained presentposition data of the mobile unit; and a regeneration device whichregenerates route data on a route from the obtained present position ofthe mobile unit to an unvisited destination set in the route data butnot yet visited, on the basis of the expected arrival time and thecomputed predicted arrival time, and wherein said route guidance deviceperforms route guidance on the basis of the regenerated route data. 53.The navigation apparatus according to claim 52, wherein saidregeneration device comprises: a time difference computation devicewhich computes the time difference between the expected arrival time andthe computed predicted arrival time; a regeneration determination devicewhich determines whether or not a route to the unvisited destination setin the route data should be regenerated on the basis of the computedtime difference; and a route regeneration device which performsregeneration of the route data when said regeneration determinationdevice determines that the route to the unvisited destination should beregenerated.
 54. The navigation apparatus according to claim 52, whereinsaid regeneration determination device comprises: an addition/deletiondetermination device which determines, on the basis of the timedifference computed by said time difference computation device, at leastone of addition of a destination to be newly set as an intermediatedestination and removal of a destination set in the route data; and adecision device which decides, on the basis of the result of thedetermination made by said addition/deletion determination device,whether or not a route to the unvisited destination set in the routedata should be regenerated.
 55. The navigation apparatus according toclaim 50, wherein, in a case where the spot data includes weatherinformation, and route guidance is performed on the basis of thegenerated route data by said route guidance device, said navigationapparatus comprises: a present position acquisition device which obtainspresent position data indicating a present position of the mobile unitwhile the route guidance is performed; a weather information acquisitiondevice which obtains weather forecast information on the destination setin the route data during the route guidance; and a regeneration devicewhich regenerates route data on a route from the obtained presentposition of the mobile unit to an unvisited destination set in the routedata but not yet visited, on the basis of the obtained weather forecastinformation on the destination and the weather information obtained bysaid spot data acquisition device, and wherein said route guidancedevice performs the route guidance on the basis of the regenerated routedata.
 56. The navigation apparatus according to claim 55, wherein saidregeneration device comprises: an addition/deletion determination devicewhich determines, on the basis of the weather forecast information onthe destination obtained by said weather information acquisition deviceand the weather information on the destination obtained by said spotdata acquisition device, at least one of addition of a destination to benewly set as an intermediate destination and removal of a destinationset in the route data; and a decision device which decides, on the basisof the result of the determination made by said addition/deletiondetermination device, whether or not a route to the unvisiteddestination set in the route data should be regenerated.
 57. Thenavigation apparatus according to claim 52, wherein, in a case where aplurality of the unvisited destinations exist when the route guidancedevice performs route guidance on the basis of the route data, saidregeneration device regenerates the route data on the route from theobtained present position of the mobile unit to the unvisiteddestination by rearranging the visit order of the unvisiteddestinations.
 58. The navigation apparatus according to claim 37,wherein, in a case where route guidance is performed on the basis of thegenerated route data by said route guidance device, said navigationapparatus comprises: a present position acquisition device which obtainspresent position data indicating a present position of the mobile unitwhile the route guidance is performed; a travel time computation devicewhich, during the route guidance, computes a continuous travel timeduring which the mobile unit travels continuously; a detection devicewhich detects that the computed continuous travel time of the mobileunit lapses away for a certain time period set in advance; and apresentation device which presents the destination set in advance as anew destination when said detection device detects that the computedcontinuous travel time of the mobile unit lapses away for the timeperiod set in advance, wherein said route guidance device performs theroute guidance on the basis of the route data generated by saidgeneration device and the presented destination.
 59. The navigationapparatus according to claim 58, further comprising an identificationdevice which identifies a kind of a travel road on which the mobile unittravels on the basis of the present position of the mobile unit obtainedby said present position data acquisition device and the map data storedin the storage device, wherein said presentation device presents thedestination set in advance as a new destination on the basis of the kindof the travel road identified by said identification device and the factthat the detected continuous travel time of the mobile unit detected bysaid detection device lapses away for the time period set in advance.60. The navigation apparatus according to claim 52, further comprisingsaid notification device, wherein, said notification device notifies theroute data is regenerated by said regeneration device.
 61. Thenavigation apparatus according to claim 60, further comprising aregeneration selection device which selects whether or not the routeguidance should be performed based on the route data regenerated by saidregeneration device, when the regeneration of the route data is notifiedby said notification device, wherein said route guidance device performthe route guidance on the basis of the regenerated route data when saidregeneration selection device selects that the route guidance isperformed.
 62. The navigation apparatus according to claim 37, wherein,in a case where the route guidance is performed on the basis of theroute data generated by said route guidance device, and where thedestination information includes guide information of the destination,said navigation apparatus further comprises: a present positionacquisition device which obtains present position data indicating apresent position of the mobile unit while the route guidance isperformed; a distance computation device which computes a distance tothe destination on the basis of the obtained present position of themobile unit; a distance determination device which determines whether ornot the computed distance to the destination is within a distance rangeset in advance; and a presentation device which presents the guideinformation when said distance determination device determines that thecomputed distance to the destination is within the distance range set inadvance.
 63. A navigation method comprising: a departure point dataacquisition process which obtains departure point data including atleast location data of a departure point from which a mobile unitdeparts; a registration process which registers a destination to bereached by the mobile unit; a spot data acquisition process whichobtains spot data on the registered destination including at leastlocation data indicating the location of the destination, stay lengthinformation representing information on an expected stay length at thedestination and available time information indicating available datesand times of the destination; a map data acquisition process whichobtains map data stored in a storage device; a generation process whichgenerates route data from the departure point to the destinationincluding at least an expected arrival time at the destination on thebasis of the obtained departure point data, the spot data on theregistered destination and the map data; and a route guidance processwhich performs route guidance from the departure point to thedestination on the basis of the generated route data.
 64. The navigationmethod according to claim 63, wherein said route guidance processincludes: a present position acquisition process which obtains presentposition data indicating a present position of the mobile unit while theroute guidance is performed; a predicted time computation process whichcomputes a predicted arrival time at which arrival at the registereddestination will occur, on the basis of the obtained present positiondata of the mobile unit; and a regeneration process which regeneratesroute data on a route from the obtained present position of the mobileunit to an unvisited destination set in the route data but not yetvisited, on the basis of the expected arrival time and the computedpredicted arrival time.
 65. A route data generation program forgenerating route data relating to route guidance of a mobile unit by acomputer, said route data generation program making the computerfunction as: a departure point data acquisition device which obtainsdeparture point data including at least location data of a departurepoint from which a mobile unit departs; a registration device whichregisters a destination to be reached by the mobile unit; a spot dataacquisition device which obtains spot data on the registered destinationincluding at least location data indicating the location of thedestination, stay length information representing information on anexpected stay length at the destination and available time informationindicating available dates and times of the destination; a map dataacquisition device which obtains map data stored in a storage device; ageneration device which generates route data from the departure point tothe destination including at least an expected arrival time at thedestination on the basis of the obtained departure point data, the spotdata on the registered destination and the map data; and a routeguidance device which performs route guidance from the departure pointto the destination on the basis of the generated route data.
 66. Theroute data generation program according to claim 65, wherein, in a casewhere the route guidance is performed on the basis of the generatedroute data, said route data generation program makes the computerfunction as: a present position acquisition device which obtains presentposition data indicating a present position of the mobile unit while theroute guidance is performed; a predicted time computation device whichcomputes a predicted arrival time at which arrival at the registereddestination will occur, on the basis of the obtained present positiondata of the mobile unit; and a regeneration device which regeneratesroute data on a route from the obtained present position of the mobileunit to an unvisited destination set in the route data but not yetvisited, on the basis of the expected arrival time and the computedpredicted arrival time.
 67. A recording medium on which the route datageneration program according to claim 65 is recorded so as to bereadable with a computer.
 68. A server apparatus in a navigation system,said server apparatus comprising: a reception device which receivesdeparture point data including at least location data of a departurepoint of a mobile unit registered by a terminal device departs, and adestination which is to be reached by the mobile unit; a spot dataacquisition device which obtains spot data on the registered destinationincluding at least location data indicating the location of thedestination, stay length information representing information on anexpected stay length at the destination and available time informationindicating available dates and times of the destination; a storagedevice which stores map data; a generation device which generates routedata from the departure point to the destination including at least anexpected arrival time at the destination on the basis of the obtaineddeparture point data, the spot data on the registered destination andthe map data; and a route guidance control device which controls routeguidance in said terminal device from the departure point to thedestination on the basis of the generated route data.
 69. The serverapparatus in the navigation system according to claim 68, wherein, in acase where the route guidance of said terminal device is controlled bysaid route guidance control device on the basis of generated the routedata, said server apparatus comprises: a present position acquisitiondevice which obtains present position data indicating a present positionof the mobile unit while the route guidance is performed; a predictedtime computation device which computes, during the route guidance, apredicted arrival time at which arrival at the registered destinationwill occur, on the basis of the obtained present position data of themobile unit; and a regeneration device which regenerates route data on aroute from the obtained present position of the mobile unit to anunvisited destination set in the route data but not yet visited, on thebasis of the expected arrival time and the computed predicted arrivaltime, wherein said route guidance control device controls the routeguidance in said terminal device on the basis of the regenerated routedata.
 70. The navigation apparatus according to claim 37, wherein, in acase where a plurality of destinations are registered by saidregistration device, said generation device comprises: a classificationdevice which classifies the plurality of the destinations into a firstdestination group representing some of the destinations having positionsin visit orders which should be first determined, and a seconddestination group representing the other destinations, on the basis ofthe stay length information and the available time information in thespot data; a visit order setting device which sets the positions invisit orders of the classified first destination group; and a route datageneration device which generates route data on a route from thedeparture point to the destination including at least an expectedarrival time at the destination, on the basis of the set positions invisit order of the first destination group, the obtained departure pointdata, the registered spot data on the destination and the map data. 71.The navigation apparatus according to claim 70, wherein saidclassification device comprises: a subtraction device which subtractsthe stay length indicated by the stay length information from theavailable time indicated by the available time information; a comparisondevice which compares the time obtained by said subtraction device witha value set in advance; and a destination group classification devicewhich performs classification into the first destination group and thesecond destination group on the basis of the comparison result by saidcomparison device.
 72. The navigation apparatus according to claim 70,wherein said route data generation device generates route data on aroute from the departure point to the destination including at least anexpected arrival time at the destination while setting the positions invisit orders of the second destination group, on the basis of theavailable time information and the stay length information on thedestinations and the set positions in the visit orders of the firstdestination group.